Job begins by framing human life as a "hard service" or even a "warfare," emphasizing that, like a hired hand, our days are numbered and demanding. This isn't just about having a difficult life; it highlights the inherent servitude and exhaustion that mark our existence on earth before finding rest.
“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I toss and turn till the dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job, gripped by overwhelming suffering and feeling abandoned by God, begins to lament the harshness of human existence. He questions whether life itself isn't simply a difficult period of service, like that of a hired worker, whose days are numbered and filled with toil, before the inevitable end. This leads into his pleas for release and his wrestling with the apparent silence of God in the face of his agony.
Job feels like he's been enlisted for a tough, endless tour of duty. He asks, 'Isn't there a set amount of work we're meant to do on earth?'
Job uses two powerful images to describe the human condition:
A Hard Service
The Hebrew word used here can mean 'warfare' or 'assigned service.' It paints a picture of a life that isn't necessarily free or easy, but rather a period of duty, struggle, and perhaps even conflict. It suggests that life on earth comes with a task or a fight that we're meant to engage in.
The Days of a Hired Hand
This imagery highlights the temporary and often arduous nature of human existence. A hired hand works for a specific wage and for a limited time. Their days are marked by labor, and they often look forward to the end of their shift or contract. Job implies that human life, like the hired hand's, is finite and filled with toil, making the longing for rest understandable.
Job feels his life slipping away like sand through his fingers. He questions if God even notices how short and fragile our time is.
Job isn't just complaining about suffering; he's profoundly aware of life's brevity and God's eternal perspective.
A Defined Span
Job sees human life as having an 'appointed time' or a 'set time.' This isn't a bleak determinism, but an observation that our earthly existence is bounded. While God is eternal, our days here are numbered. The commentaries suggest this 'appointed time' is like a soldier's tour of duty or a worker's contract – it has an end.
Ask a follow-up
God's Eternal Viewpoint
This awareness of life's limited span leads Job to question God's attention. If our days are so short and fleeting, like a vapor or a shadow (as he'll say later), why does God seem to focus so intently on our actions and struggles? He feels the contrast between his brief, painful existence and God's everlasting being, leading to a sense of bewilderment.
Understand the original words
enosh · Hebrew Noun
A general term for humanity, emphasizing their frailty, mortal nature, and dependence upon God, often contrasted with God's transcendence.
tsaba · Hebrew Noun
Refers to military service, forced labor, or burdensome, arduous work; used metaphorically to describe the toilsome and often painful experience of human life.
sakir · Hebrew Noun
One who serves another for pay, highlighting a life governed by the requirements, control, and timelines of another rather than one's own desires.
ebed · Hebrew Noun
A person owned by another, signifying total loss of personal autonomy, subjection to the will of another, and often implying a condition of harsh struggle.
shav · Hebrew Noun
Used poetically to describe time that lacks substance, purpose, or satisfaction, reflecting the futility of life apart from divine meaning.
amal · Hebrew Noun
Refers to labor, trouble, or painful effort; it signifies the experience of distress, sorrow, or annoyance that accompanies fallen human existence.
basar · Hebrew Noun
The physical substance of living creatures; in Scripture, it often represents human frailty, mortality, and the propensity toward sin or corruption.
rimmah · Hebrew Noun
Small, crawling creatures often associated with decay, corruption, and the temporary, fragile state of the human body in the grave.
This passage speaks of a 'hard service' that has been completed, resonating with Job's sense of life as a difficult, appointed task.
Galatians 6:7This verse reminds us that we reap what we sow, a concept Job grapples with as he questions the fairness of his suffering despite his life's work.
1 Corinthians 9:24Paul uses the analogy of a runner in a race, emphasizing the effort and discipline required for a prize, which parallels Job's view of life as a period of demanding labor.
Colossians 3:23This verse encourages doing all work heartily, as for the Lord, connecting to the idea of life's tasks being a form of service, whether paid or not.
jfbJob 7:1: "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?"
CHAPTER 7Job 7:1-21. Job Excuses His Desire for Death.1. appointed time—better, "a warfare," hard conflict with evil (so in Isa 40:2; Da 10:1). Translate it "appointed time" (Job 14:14). Job reverts to the sad picture of man, however great, which he had drawn (Job 3:14), and details in this chapter the miseries which his friends will see, if, according to his request (Job 6:28), they…
pulpitJob 7:1: "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?"
Verses 1-21. - In this chapter Job first bewails his miserable fate, of which he expects no alleviation (vers. 1-10); then claims an unlimited right of complaint (ver. 11); and finally enters into direct expostulation with God - an expostulation which continues from ver. 12 to the end of the chapter. At the close, he admits his sinfulness (ver. 20), but asks impatiently why God does…
Job begins by framing human life as a "hard service" or even a "warfare," emphasizing that, like a hired hand, our days are numbered and demanding. This isn't just about having a difficult life; it highlights the inherent servitude and exhaustion that mark our existence on earth before finding rest.
Job, gripped by overwhelming suffering and feeling abandoned by God, begins to lament the harshness of human existence. He questions whether life itself isn't simply a difficult period of service, like that of a hired worker, whose days are numbered and filled with toil, before the inevitable end. This leads into his pleas for release and his wrestling with the apparent silence of God in the face of his agony.
Job, gripped by overwhelming suffering and feeling abandoned by God, begins to lament the harshness of human existence. He questions whether life itself isn't simply a difficult period of service, like that of a hired worker, whose days are numbered and filled with toil, before the inevitable end. This leads into his pleas for release and his wrestling with the apparent silence of God in the face of his agony.
"“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, a…" — Job begins by framing human life as a "hard service" or even a "warfare," emphasizing that, like a hired hand, our days are numbered and demanding. This isn't just about having a difficult life; it h…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026
