Job 7:4

4, 5. A graphic account of his condition under his malady. Job_7:4 should probably be rendered,

When I lie down I say, When shall I arise?

And the night stretches out, and I am full of tossings, &c.

At evening he longs for morning (Deu_28:67), but the night seems to him to prolong itself, and he tosses restlessly till the daybreak.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 7:4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

Ver. 4. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? &c.] Here is a graphic description of a wearisome night. The night is most laborious and irksome to sick people: then they revolve their troubles, and being free from visits of friends, they visit their own afflictions, and study their own distempers freely; then they lie all night wishing for day, telling the clock, hearkening for the cock (that natural clock), tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day, not able to get the least wink of sleep, that nurse of nature, and sweet parenthesis of men’s griefs and cares. Oh present the condition of a restless sick man to your thoughts (saith an interpreter here), praise God for quiet nights, and pity those to whom wearisome nights are appointed.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Literally, "When shall be the flight of the night?" [GESENIUS]. UMBREIT, not so well, "The night is long extended"; literally, "measured out" (so Margin).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. When I lie down] I have so little rest, that when I do lie down I long for the return of the light, that I may rise. Nothing can better depict the state of a man under continual afflictions, which afford him no respite, his days and his nights being spent in constant anguish, utterly unable to be in any one posture, so that he is continually changing his position in his bed, finding ease nowhere: thus, as himself expresses it, he is full of tossings.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) When I lie down, I say.—Or, When I lie down, then I say, When shall I arise? But the night is long, and I am filled with tossings to and fro till the morning twilight.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise,.... Or, "then I say", &c. (t); that is, as soon as he laid himself down in his bed, and endeavoured to compose himself to sleep, in order to get rest and refreshment; then he said within himself, or with an articulate voice, to those about him, that sat up with him; oh that it was time to rise; when will it be morning, that I may rise from my bed, which is of no manner of service to me, but rather increases weariness?

and the night be gone? and the day dawn and break; or "night" or "evening be measured", as in the margin, or "measures itself" (u); or that "he", that is, God, or "it", my heart, "measures the evening" (w), or "night"; lengthens it out to its full time: to a discomposed person, that cannot sleep, the night seems long; such count every hour, tell every clock that strikes, and long to see peep of day; these are they that watch for the morning, Psa 130:6,

and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day; or, "unto the twilight"; the morning twilight; though some understand it of the twilight or evening of the next day, see Sa1 30:17; and interpret "the tossings to and fro" of the toils and labours of the day, and of the sorrows and miseries of it, lengthened out to the eve of the following day; but rather they are to be understood either of the tosses of his mind, his distressed and perplexed thoughts within him he was full of; or of the tosses of his body, his frequent turning himself upon his bed, from side to side, to ease him; and with these he was "filled", or "satiated" (x); he had enough and too much of them; he was glutted and sated with them, as a man is with overmuch eating, as the word signifies.

(t) "tum dixi", Beza, Piscator, Mercerus. (u) So Saadiah Gaon. (w) "tum admensus est versperam", Schmidt; "extendit", Schultens; "et cor", Mercerus; so Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom, and Bar Tzemach. (x) "satior", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

When I lie down - I find no comfort and no rest on my bed. My nights are long, and I am impatient to have them passed, and equally so is it with the day. This is a description which all can understand who have been laid on a bed of pain.

And the night be gone - Margin, evening be measured. Herder renders this, “the night is irksome to me.” The word rendered night (ערב ‛ereb) properly means the early part of the night, until it is succeeded by the dawn. Thus, in Gen 1:5,” And the evening (ערב ‛ereb) and the morning were the first day.” Here it means the portion of the night which is before the dawning of the aurora - the night. The word rendered “be gone” and in the margin “be measured” ( מדּד mı̂ddad), has been variously rendered. The verb מדד mâdad means to stretch, to extend, to measure; and, according to Gesenius, the form of the word used here is a noun meaning flight, and the sense is, “when shall be the flight of the night?” He derives it from נדד nâdad to move, to flee, to flee away. So Rosenmuller explains it. The expression is poetic, meaning, when shall the night be gone?

I am full of tossings to and fro - (נדדים nâdûdı̂ym). A word from the same root. It means uneasy motions, restlessness. He found no quiet repose on his bed.

Unto the dawning - נשׁף nesheph, from נשׁף nâshaph, to breathe; hence, the evening twilight because the breezes blow, or seem to breathe, and then it means also the morning twilight, the dawn. Dr. Stock renders it, “until the morning breeze.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And again. Hebrew, "and the night be completed, I toss to and fro," (Haydock) or "I am disturbed with dreams, (Calmet) till day break." Vulgate insinuates that night and day are equally restless to a man in extreme pain. (Haydock) --- As I find no comfort, why may I not desire to die? (Menochius) --- I desire to be dissolved, as being much better, said St. Paul. [Philippians i. 23.]

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

When I lie down, to get some rest and sleep. The night, Heb. the evening; the part put for the whole, as it is Gen 1:5.

To and fro; from side to side in the bed, as men in grievous pains of body or anxiety of mind use to be.

Unto the dawning of the day; so this Hebrew word is used also 1Sa 30:17; Psa 119:147.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. When I lie down — “This is a fine touch. The longing for morn does not come, as to the Prometheus of AEschylus, after a night of suffering, but anticipates it. Job’s one thought, as he lies down hopeless of rest or respite, is, when will the light return, bringing with it, at least, more of consciousness and power to endure the agony.” — Canon Cook.

The night be gone — מדד, is rendered by some, is long. Thus Dillmann, Hitzig, and Renan, “When shall I arise? and the night is prolonged.” Many others make middadh the construct state of a verbal noun, and read, “and the flight of the evening be” — evening being equivalent to night of the preceding verse. The accents favour this reading, which is substantially that of the Authorized Version. The use of the word evening heightens the beauty of the thought. If the evening twilight be so hard to bear in anticipation, what must the whole night be?

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? So Gesenius, Rosenmuller, and Delitzsch. Others translate, "the night is long" (Dillmann, Renan), or "the night seems endless" (Merx); Deu_28:67, "At evening thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!" And I am full of tossings to and fro. Professor Lee understands "tossings of the mind," or "distracting thoughts;" but it is more probable that tossings of the body are meant. These are familiar to every bad sleeper. Unto the dawning of the day. A little rest sometimes visits the tired eyelids after a long, sleepless night. Job may refer to this, or he may simply mean that he lay tossing on his bed all through the night, till morning came, when he arose.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4 If I lie down, I think:

When shall I arise and the evening break away?

And I become weary with tossing to and fro unto the morning dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of earth;

My skin heals up to fester again.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,

And vanish without hope.

Most modern commentators take מדּד as Piel from מדד: the night is extended (Renan: la nuit se prolonge), which is possible; comp. Ges. 52, 2. But the metre suggests another rendering: מדּד constr. of מדּד from נדד, to flee away: and when fleeing away of the evening. The night is described by its commencement, the late evening, to make the long interval of the sleeplessness and restlessness of the invalid prominent. In נדדים and מדד there is a play of words (Ebrard). רמּה, worms, in reference to the putrifying ulcers; and גּוּשׁ (with זעירא )ג, clod of earth, from the cracked, scaly, earth-coloured skin of one suffering with elephantiasis. The praett. are used of that which is past and still always present, the futt. consec. of that which follows in and with the other. The skin heals, רגע (which we render with Ges., Ew., contrahere se); the result is that it becomes moist again. ימּאס, according to Ges. 67, rem. 4 = ימּס, Psa 58:8. His days pass swiftly away; the result is that they come to an end without any hope whatever. ארג is like κερκίς, radius, a weaver's shuttle, by means of which the weft is shot between the threads of the warp as they are drawn up and down. His days pass as swiftly by as the little shuttle passes backwards and forwards in the warp.

Next follows a prayer to God for the termination of his pain, since there is no second life after the present, and consequently also the possibility of requital ceases with death.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

When I lie down

The implied information is that this is when Job would lie down to sleep at night. AT: "When I lie down to sleep" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

I say to myself

Job poses a question to no one else in particular. AT: "I ask" or "I wonder" (See: Reflexive Pronouns)

When will I get up and when will the night be gone?

Job poses this question to emphasize his intense suffering during the hours he should be sleeping. AT: "I wish I could get up, but night continues." (See: Rhetorical Question)

tossing to and fro

"turning back and forth." This indicates that Job has moved on his bed all night without any rest.

My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust

The worms and clods of dust are pictured as covering Job as if they were clothing. AT: "My flesh is covered with worms and clods of dust" (See: Metaphor)

My flesh

This represents his whole body. AT: "My body" (See: Synecdoche)

clods of dust

Possible meanings are 1) lumps or crusts of dirt or 2) scabs on the skin.

dissolve and run afresh

"break out again"

translationWords

flesh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

If I would lie down at night, I would hope and say, etc.

and the evening depart When will it become light and when will the time of arising come, and when will the evening depart? [The word מדד ] is an expression of (Gen. 31:40) “and sleep was banished (ותדד).” The “mem” is a defective radical, as in מאמר, statement; משמר, watch.

And I was sated with restlessness I was sated with restlessness on my bed by day until twilight, because, due to the torments I could not sleep until the twilight of day, since my flesh was clothed with worms.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.