Job 8:9
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For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Job's friends are like Job's messengers: the latter followed one another close with evil tidings, the former followed him with harsh censures: both, unawares, served Satan's design; these to drive him from his integrity, those to drive him from the comfort of it. Eliphaz did not reply to what Job had said in answer to him, but left it to Bildad, whom he knew to be of the same mind with himself in this affair. Those are not the wisest of the company, but the weakest rather, who covet to have all the talk. Let others speak in their turn, and let the first keep silence, Co1 14:30, Co1 14:31. Eliphaz had undertaken to show that because Job was sorely afflicted he was certainly a wicked man. Bildad is much of the same mind, and will conclude Job a wicked man unless God do speedily appear for his relief. In this chapter he endeavours to convince Job, I. That he had spoken too passionately (Job 8:2). II. That he and his children had suffered justly (Job 8:3, Job 8:4). III. That, if he were a true penitent, God would soon turn his captivity (Job 8:5-7). IV. That it was a usual thing for Providence to extinguish the joys and hopes of wicked men as his were extinguished; and therefore that they had reason to suspect him for a hypocrite (Job 8:8-19). V. That they would be abundantly confirmed in their suspicion unless God did speedily appear for his relief (Job 8:20-22).
Open source ↗8:9 born but yesterday and know nothing: Bildad suggested that Job’s generation was either born too late to be acquainted with ancient wisdom or was too young to have accumulated it.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
“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.”
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
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
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.