Job 8:9
7 Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.
8 Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers.
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- KJV
- (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
- WEB
- (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
- ASV
- (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow);
- DARBY
- For we are [but] of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.
- BLB
- For we [are] of yesterday, and we do not know; indeed, our days [are] a shadow upon the earth.
- ÅB
- - for vi er fra igår og vet intet; for en skygge er våre dager på jorden -
- OTB
- for vi er bare av i går og vet ingenting,
da våre dager på jorden er som en skygge. - B1930
- - for vi er fra igår og vet intet; for en skygge er våre dager på jorden -
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
Read in contextPsalms 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Read in contextJob 14:2
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Read in contextPsalms 102:11
My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
Read in contextGenesis 47:9
“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
Read in contextJob 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
Read in contextPsalms 90:4
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
Read in contextPsalms 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
Read in context