The Meaning of Job 9:26 Explained

Job 9:26

KJV: They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

YLT: They have passed on with ships of reed, As an eagle darteth on food.

Darby: They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.

ASV: They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

They are passed away  as  the swift  ships:  as the eagle  [that] hasteth  to the prey. 

What does Job 9:26 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 9:1-35 - "the Daysman"
Ponder the sublimity of the conceptions of God given in this magnificent passage. To God are attributed the earthquake that rocks the pillars on which the world rests, Job 9:6; the eclipse which hides the heavenly bodies, Job 9:7; the storm in which he bows the heavens and treads majestically on the waves, Job 9:8; and the creation of the constellations, Job 9:9. Who can dare to argue with or call to account so great a God as this? Job 9:10-19. Even if a man be outwardly and inwardly righteous (that is, so far as the measure of his light), yet in such a Presence the heart of the most perfect must condemn him. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves"¦. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." We cannot but feel that this old-world thinker had a truer view of that conscious imperfection and sin which must be experienced by every mortal who has a right appreciation of the holiness of God, than have those who refuse to say the Lord's Prayer because it contains a petition for forgiveness!
Truly we need that Daysman! But we have Him in Jesus our Mediator, who can lay His hand on God and us, Job 9:33; 1 Timothy 2:5. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 9

1  Job acknowledges God's justice
22  Man's innocence is not to be condemned by afflictions

What do the individual words in Job 9:26 mean?

They pass by like ships papyrus Like an eagle swooping on its food
חָ֭לְפוּ עִם־ אֳנִיּ֣וֹת אֵבֶ֑ה כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר יָט֥וּשׂ עֲלֵי־ אֹֽכֶל

חָ֭לְפוּ  They  pass  by 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: חָלַף 
Sense: to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from.
עִם־  like 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
אֳנִיּ֣וֹת  ships 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct
Root: אֳנִיָּה  
Sense: ship.
אֵבֶ֑ה  papyrus 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵבֶה  
Sense: reed, papyrus.
כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר  Like  an  eagle 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular
Root: נֶשֶׁר  
Sense: eagle, vulture, griffon-vulture.
יָט֥וּשׂ  swooping 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: טוּשׂ  
Sense: (Qal) to dart, flutter, rush.
אֹֽכֶל  its  food 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֹכֶל  
Sense: food.