Job 7
1 “Is there not warfare to man on earth? And his days as the days of a hired worker?
Has not man his ordered time of trouble on the earth? and are not his days like the days of a servant working for payment?
2 As a servant desires the shadow, And as a hired worker expects his wage,
As a servant desiring the shades of evening, and a workman looking for his payment:
3 So I have been caused to inherit months of vanity, And they numbered nights of misery to me.
So I have for my heritage months of pain to no purpose, and nights of weariness are given to me.
4 If I lay down, then I have said, When do I rise, And evening has been measured? And I have been full of tossings until dawn.
When I go to my bed, I say, When will it be time to get up? but the night is long, and I am turning from side to side till morning light.
5 My flesh has been clothed [with] worms, And a clod of dust, My skin has been shriveled and is loathsome,
My flesh is covered with worms and dust; my skin gets hard and then is cracked again.
6 My days swifter than a loom, And they are consumed without hope.
My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope.
7 Remember that my life [is] a breath, My eye does not turn back to see good.
O, keep in mind that my life is wind: my eye will never again see good.
8 The eye of my beholder does not behold me. Your eyes [are] on me—and I am not.
The eye of him who sees me will see me no longer: your eyes will be looking for me, but I will be gone.
9 A cloud has been consumed, and it goes, So he who is going down to Sheol does not come up. (Sheol h7585)
A cloud comes to an end and is gone; so he who goes down into the underworld comes not up again. (Sheol h7585)
10 He does not turn to his house again, Nor does his place discern him again.
He will not come back to his house, and his place will have no more knowledge of him.
11 Also I do not withhold my mouth—I speak in the distress of my spirit, I talk in the bitterness of my soul.
So I will not keep my mouth shut; I will let the words come from it in the pain of my spirit, my soul will make a bitter outcry.
12 Am I a sea [monster], or a dragon, That You set a watch over me?
Am I a sea, or a sea-beast, that you put a watch over me?
13 When I said, My bed comforts me, In my talking He takes away my couch.
When I say, In my bed I will have comfort, there I will get rest from my disease;
14 And You have frightened me with dreams, And You terrify me from visions,
Then you send dreams to me, and visions of fear;
15 And my soul chooses strangling, Death rather than my bones.
So that a hard death seems better to my soul than my pains.
16 I have wasted away—I do not live for all time. Cease from me, for my days [are] vanity.
I have no desire for life, I would not be living for ever! Keep away from me, for my days are as a breath.
17 What [is] man that You magnify him? And that You set Your heart to him?
What is man, that you have made him great, and that your attention is fixed on him,
18 And inspect him in the mornings, [And] in the evenings try him?
And that your hand is on him every morning, and that you are testing him every minute?
19 How long do You not look from me? You do not desist until I swallow my spittle.
How long will it be before your eyes are turned away from me, so that I may have a minute's breathing-space?
20 I have sinned, what do I do to You, O watcher of man? Why have You set me for a mark to You, And I am for a burden to myself—and what?
If I have done wrong, what have I done to you, O keeper of men? why have you made me a mark for your blows, so that I am a weariness to myself?
21 You do not take away my transgression, And [do not] cause my iniquity to pass away, Because now, I lie down in dust, And You have sought me—and I am not!”
And why do you not take away my sin, and let my wrongdoing be ended? for now I go down to the dust, and you will be searching for me with care, but I will be gone.
