Job grapples with the harsh reality of divine justice, questioning how God repays human actions. He pours out his frustration over the stark contrast between a person's moral behavior and the fate they ultimately endure. The primary approach among commentators is to read his words as a bitter protest. Job cries out that his severe suffering is the actual payment he receives from God for his lifelong dedication to righteousness [רש״י, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Within this view of his despair, his dual expressions of suffering can be understood in two ways. They might simply be a poetic repetition emphasizing the same tragic reality [מצודת דוד]. Alternatively, they outline the distinct layers of his tragedy. One concept refers to his personal lot, specifically the agonizing physical pain he endures. The other, which implies an inheritance passed down, points to the total destruction of his family and the tragic death of his children [מלבי״ם].
In contrast to viewing his words as a cry over his present ruin, other perspectives connect his thoughts directly to his earlier claim of making a strict covenant to avoid looking at a young woman. According to one line of thought, he is describing the moral reasoning that guided his past behavior. He avoided sin by constantly reminding himself of the harsh fate God reserves for the wicked. Knowing that the ultimate reward for wrongdoing is disaster and ruin, his deep fear of God successfully kept him away from temptation [רמב״ן].
Taking a different angle, his words reveal an intense internal struggle against the human tendency to justify bad choices. Job explains that he made a strict pact with his eyes because he feared the deceptive nature of his own mind. If he allowed himself to gaze at a young woman, he might try to rationalize a relationship with her. He could convince himself that she was his God-given destiny, meant for him or his son, or perhaps a woman rightfully taken from an unworthy man and given to him as a divine inheritance. To completely shut down any possibility of these permissive thoughts, he chose to look away entirely [אלשיך].