Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 7:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 7:16 closes the thought unit with the words “I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.” Job states “I loathe it” as one poetic claim in Job Appeals to God from Fleeting Life and Night Terror.
Read It With
- Job 7:7–7:16
Read Job 7:16 with 7:7–7:16. Read alone, “I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity” 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 7:16 closes the thought unit through “I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.”
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.
What Remains True
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. The enduring truth joins honest recognition of anguish with compassionate presence, protection, and appropriate care rather than diagnosis, blame, or romanticism. Job 7:16 carries that bounded truth through “I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.”
How It Can Shape Life
- When present-day speech echoes the anguish in Job 7:7–7:16, listen without diagnosis or debate, remain compassionately present, support medical and mental-health care, and seek qualified immediate help when safety may be at risk. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: This lament does not settle later resurrection theology or commend self-harm; it requires careful presence, room for protest, and modern safety support. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.”
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 ↗