Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Job 7:15 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 15. 15So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 7:15 advances the thought unit with the words “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.” Job says his anguish makes death seem preferable to his present body and life.
Read It With
- Job 7:7–7:16
Read Job 7:15 with 7:7–7:16. Read alone, “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job asks God to remember his breath-like life, describes descent to the grave as irreversible within his horizon, and says dreams and bodily misery make death seem preferable.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Job continues from Job 7:1–7:6: Job compares mortal life to military service and hired labor, then describes empty months, restless nights, damaged skin, and days ending without hope. Job 7:7–7:16 now develops the next distinct movement: Job asks God to remember his breath-like life, describes descent to the grave as irreversible within his horizon, and says dreams and bodily misery make death seem preferable. Within that relationship, Job 7:15 advances the thought unit through “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.”
Read Job 7:7–16 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 7:7–7:16 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Appeals to God from Fleeting Life and Night Terror.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 7. 7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
Verse 8. 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
Verse 9. 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Verse 10. 10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
Verse 11. 11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Verse 12. 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
Verse 13. 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
Verse 14. 14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
Verse 15. 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
Verse 16. 16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
Follow the Context
- Identify Job's stated claim in Job 7:7–7:16.
- Job asks God to remember his breath-like life, describes descent to the grave as irreversible within his horizon, and says dreams and bodily misery make death seem preferable.
- Keep this interpretive control visible: This lament does not settle later resurrection theology or commend self-harm; it requires careful presence, room for protest, and modern safety support.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Job 7:15 does not permit “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life” to be detached from its named speaker and complete thought unit. Job 7:15 does not make strangling or death a faithful solution.
What Remains True
The text preserves severe despair while the book continues Job's life, speech, relationships, and encounter. Job 7:15 keeps that conclusion accountable to the line “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Treat similar speech as a call for immediate care and safety assessment rather than a slogan. Keep the selected wording “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life” and Job 7:7–7:16's complete movement visible while acting.
Teach It Back
Explain why Job 7:15 advances the thought unit. Paraphrase “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life,” identify Job, use 7:7–7:16, state one material uncertainty when present, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 7:7–7:16 — Job Appeals to God from Fleeting Life and Night TerrorSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 7:7–7:16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 7:7–7:16
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 7:7–7:16.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 7:7–7:16
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: lament and first dialogue cycle; applied to Job 7:7–7:16
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying death wishes, despair, severe loss, and suicide-related material; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii, evidence pp. 7-10, dos and don'ts pp. 11-16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Job 7:7–7:16
Open the WHO communication guide ↗