Job 7

1 “Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

Is not the life of man upon earth a state of trial? and his existence as that of a hireling by the day?

2 Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

Or as a servant that fears his master, and one who has grasped a shadow? or as a hireling waiting for his pay?

3 So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.

So have I also endured months of vanity, and nights of pain have been appointed me.

4 When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

Whenever I lie down, I say, When [will it be] day? and whenever I rise up, again [I say] when [will it be] evening? and I am full of pains from evening to morning.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

And my body is covered with loathsome worms; and I waste away, scraping off clods of dust from my eruption.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

And my life is lighter than a word, and has perished in vain hope.

7 Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

Remember then that my life is breath, and mine eye shall not yet again see good.

8 The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.

The eye of him that sees me shall not see me [again]: your eyes are upon me, and I am no more.

9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up. (Sheol h7585)

[I am] as a cloud that is cleared away from the sky: for if a man go down to the grave, he shall not come up again: (Sheol h7585)

10 He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

and he shall surely not return to his own house, neither shall his place know him any more.

11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Then neither will I refrain my mouth: I will speak being in distress; being in anguish I will disclose the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard?

Am I a sea, or a serpent, that you have set a watch over me?

13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

I said that my bed should comfort me, and I would privately counsel with myself on my couch.

14 then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

You scare me with dreams, and do terrify me with visions.

15 so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

You will separate life from my spirit; and yet [keep] my bones from death.

16 I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

For I shall not live for ever, that I should patiently endure: depart from me, for my life [is] vain.

17 What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

For what is man, that you have magnified him? or that you give heed to him?

18 that You attend to him every morning, and test him every moment?

Will you visit him till the morning, and judge him till [the time of] rest?

19 Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

How long do you not let me alone, nor let me go, until I shall swallow down my spittle?

20 If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?

If I have sinned, what shall I be able to do, O you that understand the mind of men? why have you made me as your accuser, and [why] am I a burden to you?

21 Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

Why have you not forgotten my iniquity, and purged my sin? but now I shall depart to the earth; and in the morning I am no more.