7 "God, don't forget that I'm only a puff of air! These eyes have had their last look at goodness. 8 And your eyes have seen the last of me; even while you're looking, there'll be nothing left to look at. 9 When a cloud evaporates, it's gone for good; those who go to the grave never come back. 10 They don't return to visit their families; never again will friends drop in for coffee. 11 "And so I'm not keeping one bit of this quiet, I'm laying it all out on the table; my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest. 12 Are you going to put a muzzle on me, the way you quiet the sea and still the storm? 13 If I say, 'I'm going to bed, then I'll feel better. A little nap will lift my spirits,' 14 You come and so scare me with nightmares and frighten me with ghosts 15 That I'd rather strangle in the bedclothes than face this kind of life any longer. 16 I hate this life! Who needs any more of this? Let me alone! There's nothing to my life - it's nothing but smoke.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 7:7-16
Commentary on Job 7:7-16
(Read Job 7:7-16)
Plain truths as to the shortness and vanity of man's life, and the certainty of death, do us good, when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Dying is done but once, and therefore it had need be well done. An error here is past retrieve. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of men is raised up, but the former generation vanishes away. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares and sorrows of their houses; nor condemned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their houses. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die. From these reasons Job might have drawn a better conclusion than this, I will complain. When we have but a few breaths to draw, we should spend them in the holy, gracious breathings of faith and prayer; not in the noisome, noxious breathings of sin and corruption. We have much reason to pray, that He who keeps Israel, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep. Job covets to rest in his grave. Doubtless, this was his infirmity; for though a good man would choose death rather than sin, yet he should be content to live as long as God pleases, because life is our opportunity of glorifying him, and preparing for heaven.