Job 11:16

Job 11:17 He springeth up as a flower, and is cut down;

Yea, he fleeth as a shadow, and endureth not.

And dost thou cast thine eyes upon such a one?

And wouldst thou bring me into judgment with thyself?

Yet now art thou numbering my steps;

Thou overlookest nothing of my sins: -

And for ever, as the crumbling mountain dissolveth,

And the rock mouldereth away from his place,

So consumest thou the hope of man,

Thou harassest him continually till he perish.

Why wilt thou not turn away from my transgression,

And let my calamity pass by?

If the iniquity of thy hand thou put away evil,

And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles,

continued...

And remember it as waters that pass away - As calamity that has completely gone by, or that has rolled on and will return no more. The comparison is beautiful. The water of the river is borne by us, and returns no more. The rough, the swollen, the turbid stream, we remember as it foamed and dashed along, threatening to sweep everything away; but it went swiftly by, and will never come back. So with afflictions. They are soon gone. The most intense pain soon subsides. The days of sorrow pass quickly away. There is an outer limit of suffering, and even ingenuity cannot prolong it far. The man disgraced, and whose life is a burden, will soon die. On the checks of the solitary prisoner doomed to the dungeon for life, a "mortal paleness" will soon settle down, and the comforts of approaching death will soothe the anguish of his sad heart. The rack of torture cheats itself of its own purpose, and the exhausted sufferer is released. "The excess (of grief) makes it soon mortal." "No sorrow but killed itself much sooner." Shakespeare. When we look back upon our sorrows, it is like thinking of the stream that was so much swollen, and was so impetuous. Its waters rolled on, and they come not back again; and there is a kind of pleasure in thinking of that time of danger, of that flood that was then so fearful, and that has now swept on to come back no more. So there is a kind of peaceful joy in thinking of the days of sorrow that are now fled forever; in the assurance that those sad times will never, never recur again.

11:16 As waters - Thou shalt remember it no more, than men remember a land - flood, which as it comes, so it goes away suddenly.