Job 7

1 The life of a man on the earth is a battle, and his days are like the days 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 Just as a servant desires the shade, and just as the hired hand looks forward to the end of his work,

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 also have I had empty months and have counted my burdensome nights.

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

4 If I lie down to sleep, I will say, “When will I rise?” And next I will hope for the evening and will be filled with sorrows even until darkness.

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 particles of rottenness and filth; my skin is dried up and tightened.

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

6 My days have passed by more quickly than threads are cut by a weaver, and they have been consumed without any hope.

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

7 Remember that my life is wind, and my eye will not return to see good things.

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

8 Neither will the sight of man gaze upon me; your eyes are upon me, and I will not endure.

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

9 Just as a cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to hell will not ascend. (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 will not return again to his house, nor will his own place know him any longer.

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

11 And because of this, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the affliction of my spirit. I will converse from 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 an ocean or a whale, that you have encircled me in a prison?

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

13 If I say, “My bed will comfort me, and I will find rest, speaking with myself on my blanket,”

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

14 then you will frighten me with dreams, and strike dread through visions,

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

15 so that, because of these things, my soul would choose hanging, and my bones, death.

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

16 I despair; by no means will I live any longer. Spare me, for my days are nothing.

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 praise him? Or why do you place your heart near him?

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

18 You visit him at dawn, and you test him unexpectedly.

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

19 How long will you not spare me, nor release me to ingest my saliva?

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

20 I have sinned; what should I do for you, O keeper of men? Why have you set me against you, so that I have become burdensome even to myself?

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 steal away my sin, and why do you not sweep away my iniquity? Behold, now I will sleep in the dust, and if you seek me in the morning, I will not remain.

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.