Job 7 · a question people ask

Is Job quoting Psalm 8 and turning it around?

In the text

Neither passage says so. Job asks, "What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?" (7:17-18). Psalm 8 asks, "what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4). In Hebrew both begin with the same three words, mah enosh ki, what is man, that (tap man), and Job's visit is the psalm's care for, paqad (tap visit). Where they go differs: the psalm goes on, "For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5); Job goes on, "How long will you not look away from me" (7:19). Psalm 144 asks it too, with another Hebrew word for man, adam, and other verbs (there care for is not paqad): "LORD, what is man, that you care for him?" (Psalm 144:3). None of these passages says it is quoting another, and these notes don't say who echoes whom. The New Testament quotes the psalm, not Job: "What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?" (Hebrews 2:6).

The verses

“What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?”
Job 7:17-19 · World English Bible
“what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.”
Psalm 8:4-5 · World English Bible
“LORD, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?”
Psalm 144:3 · World English Bible
“But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?”
Hebrews 2:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 7

Job 7: What is man?

Job's "What is man, that you should magnify him" (7:17) opens with the same three Hebrew words as Psalm 8:4, and his visit (7:18) is the psalm's care for. But where the psalm goes on to "glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5), Job goes on to "test him every moment" (7:18).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions