Job 7
1 “People need to work hard on this earth, like soldiers do; all during the time that we are alive, we work hard [RHQ], like laborers/servants do.
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a worker?
2 We are like [SIM] slaves who keep wanting to be in the cool shade, and we are like [SIM] workers who are waiting to be paid.
As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as a worker looks for the reward of his work:
3 God has given me many months [in which I think that it is] useless [to remain alive]; he has allotted/given to me many nights during which I feel miserable.
So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down [at night] I say, ‘How long will it be until morning?’ But nights are long, and I (toss/turn over and over) [on my bed] until dawn.
When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings back and forth unto the dawning of the day.
5 My body is covered with maggots and scabs; pus oozes out of my open sores.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
6 My days pass as quickly as a weaver’s (shuttle/stick that takes the thread back and forth), and they end without my confidently expecting [that things will be better the next day].
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 God, do not forget that my life is [as short as] a breath [MET]; I [think that] I [SYN] will never again be happy.
O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
8 God, you [SYN] see me now, but [some day] you will not see me any more. You will search for me, but I will be gone [because I will be dead].
The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more: your eyes are upon me, and I am not.
9 Like [SIM] clouds (disperse/break up) and then disappear, people [die and] descend to the place where dead people are, and they do not return; (Sheol h7585)
As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away: so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more. (Sheol h7585)
10 they never return to their houses, and people among whom they lived do not remember them any more.
He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11 So, I will not be silent; while I am suffering I will speak; I will complain [to God about what has happened to me] because I [SYN] am very angry.
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 [God, ] why do you watch closely what I am doing? [Do you think that] I am a [dangerous] sea monster?
Am I a sea, or a whale, that you set a watch over me?
13 When [I lie down at night, ] I think, ‘I will be comforted here on my bed; my pain will be less while I am sleeping.’
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints;
14 But then you give me dreams that cause me to be afraid; you give me visions that terrify me,
Then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:
15 with the result that I would prefer to be strangled to death than to continue to [be alive] being only a bunch of bones.
So that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than my life.
16 I detest continuing to be alive; I do not want to live for many years [HYP]. Allow me to be alone, [because I will be alive] for only a very short remaining time [HYP].
I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 “We human beings are not [very important]; so, why do you pay a lot of attention to us [DOU]?
What is man, that you should magnify him? and that you should set your heart upon him?
18 You look at us every morning [to see what we are doing], and examine us every moment [to see if we are doing what is right].
And that you should visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
19 (When will you stop looking at me and leave me alone [for a little time], long enough to swallow my spit?/Please stop looking at me and leave me alone [for a little time], long enough to swallow my spit.) [RHQ]
How long will you not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
20 [Why do] you watch me constantly? If I sin, that certainly does not harm you! Why have you set me up like a target to shoot at? Do you consider me to be a heavy load that you are forced to carry?
I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself?
21 [If I have sinned, ] are you not able to forgive me for my sins— the things that I have done that are wrong? Soon I will lie in my grave; you will search for me, but [you will not find me because] I will be [dead and] gone.”
And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
