Job 7
1 Militia est vita hominis super terram: et sicut dies mercenarii, dies eius.
“Isn’t a man forced to labour on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
2 Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius præstolatur finem operis sui:
As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
3 Sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
so I am made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? et rursum expectabo vesperam, et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras.
When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’ I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
5 Induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris, cutis mea aruit, et contracta est.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
6 Dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur, et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona.
Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more 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 more. Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
9 Sicut consumitur nubes, et pertransit: sic qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet. (Sheol h7585)
As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. (Sheol h7585)
10 Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius.
He will return no more to his house, neither will his place know him any more.
11 Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo, loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei: confabulabor cum amaritudine animæ meæ.
“Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Numquid mare ego sum, aut cetus, quia circumdedisti me carcere?
Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
13 Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo:
When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my complaint,’
14 Terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties.
then you scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,
15 Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
16 Desperavi, nequaquam ultra iam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17 Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,
18 Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum:
that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19 Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20 Peccavi, quid faciam tibi o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden 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.
Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”
