Job 7

Is there not a warfare of trouble, and the set time thereof appointed, for wretched man upon earth? Are not his days fixed and determined, and full of toil and labour?

Job 7:2

As a servant wearied with the toils of the day desires a place of refreshment, and as an hireling looks for the end and reward of his work, so I long for death, to deliver me from my miseries, and bring me to my glorious reward: 3. For I have now allotted me for my portion months of wretchedness and vanity, without any solid comfort: and in the night, when others rest from their sorrows, I can but restlessly increase mine

Job 7:4

I am scarcely laid down on my bed when, through agony and pain, I wish to be up again; and I am continually tormented both in body and mind: 5. For my body is overspread with ulcers, filled with worms, and crusted over with scabs, which have made such clefts in my skin, that I am become loathsome to myself

Job 7:6

My happy days have quickly run over in a moment, and there is no hope that I shall recover them

Job 7:7

Remember, O God, how short and unsubstantial my life is, though once it was pleasant; and, when once dead, I shall never return to my possessions and worldly prosperity

Job 7:8

My friends shall never more see me in this mortal state. Thou dost but frown upon me, and I vanish out of this world

Job 7:11

Since there is no hope that my condition will be better in this world, therefore I will give some vent to the extremity of my sorrow, by complaining

Job 7:12

Am I so strong and unruly that nothing but such strong chains of affliction can tame, rule, or restrain, me?

Job 7:16

Either cease from afflicting me, or from preserving me in life; for my days have no need to be made more miserable and fading than they are of themselves

Job 7:17

What is man, that thou shouldst honour him so much as to contend with him, and set thyself against him, in rendering him so miserable?

Job 7:18

And that thou shouldst visit him with new afflictions every morning, and try him with new strokes every moment?

Job 7:19

If thou art so patient and kind to the generality of mankind, why wilt thou not turn away thy displeasure from me, and at least give me time to breathe?

Job 7:20

I cannot satisfy thy justice for my sins, O thou Observer of men: yet why hast thou set me up as a mark for thy vengeance to shoot at and run against, so that I am a burden to myself and to thee?

Job 7:21

Why wilt thou not forgive me my sin, and at least release me so far from its punishment, that I may die? for if thou come not speedily to help me it will be too late

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. VII.—Our life hath its bounds and form unalterably fixed by God’s decree. But how short-lived and hard is the condition of mankind on earth! Surely then we ought to be humble, whose bodies are so vile, and our days so empty and short! And sweet must the heavenly rest be to those who get thither through so much tribulation. It is proper therefore to die with affections quite weaned from this world, and set on things above. But if the saints’ afflictions can be so terrible, so constant on earth, what must hell be to the wicked for evermore! How terrible to be driven thither in our wickedness! to fall into the hands of an angry God! The views then of our near approaching death ought to animate our confessions of sin, our cries for pardon of it, and deliverance from it. It is a mercy that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, the most unadvised and desperate expostulations with God not excepted: and, sprinkled with this, we may cheerfully bid adieu to this valley of tears and sorrows