26 They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey.

Other Translations of Job 9:26

King James Version

26 They are passed away as the swift swift...: or, ships of Ebeh: Heb. ships of desire ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

English Standard Version

26 They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

The Message

26 My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail, like an eagle plummeting to its prey.

New King James Version

26 They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey.

New Living Translation

26 It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 9:26

Commentary on Job 9:25-35

(Read Job 9:25-35)

What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves, and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job, and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm, and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; give not place to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusions about thyself. Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.