Job 7
1 [Militia est vita hominis super terram, et sicut dies mercenarii dies ejus.
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 Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius præstolatur finem operis sui,
As a servant desiring the shades of evening, and a workman looking for his payment:
3 sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
So I have for my heritage months of pain to no purpose, and nights of weariness are given to me.
4 Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? et rursum expectabo vesperam, et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras.
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 Induta est caro mea putredine, et sordibus pulveris cutis mea aruit et contracta est.
My flesh is covered with worms and dust; my skin gets hard and then is cracked again.
6 Dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur, et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe.
My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope.
7 Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona.
O, keep in mind that my life is wind: my eye will never again see good.
8 Nec aspiciet me visus hominis; oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.
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 Sicut consumitur nubes, et pertransit, sic qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet. (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 Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus ejus.
He will not come back to his house, and his place will have no more knowledge of him.
11 Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo: loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei; confabulabor cum amaritudine animæ meæ.
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 Numquid mare ego sum, aut cetus, quia circumdedisti me carcere?
Am I a sea, or a sea-beast, that you put a watch over me?
13 Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo:
When I say, In my bed I will have comfort, there I will get rest from my disease;
14 terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties.
Then you send dreams to me, and visions of fear;
15 Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
So that a hard death seems better to my soul than my pains.
16 Desperavi: nequaquam ultra jam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
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 Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
What is man, that you have made him great, and that your attention is fixed on him,
18 Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum.
And that your hand is on him every morning, and that you are testing him every minute?
19 Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
How long will it be before your eyes are turned away from me, so that I may have a minute's breathing-space?
20 Peccavi; quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
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 Cur non tollis peccatum meum, et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam, et si mane me quæsieris, non subsistam.]
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.
