< Job 7 >
1 Militia est vita hominis super terram: et sicut dies mercenarii, dies eius.
[Is there] not an appointed time to man upon earth? [are not] his days also like the days of an hireling?
2 Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius præstolatur finem operis sui:
As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for [the reward of] his work:
3 Sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
So am I made to possess months of vanity, and 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 shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto 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 is broken, and become loathsome.
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.
O remember that my life [is] wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
8 Nec aspiciet me visus hominis: oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no [more: ] thine eyes [are] upon me, and I [am] not.
9 Sicut consumitur nubes, et pertransit: sic qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet. (Sheol )
[As] the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no [more]. (Sheol )
10 Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius.
He shall return no more to his house, neither shall 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 refrain my mouth; 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 whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
13 Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo:
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
14 Terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties.
Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
15 Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
So that my soul chooseth strangling, [and] death rather than my life.
16 Desperavi, nequaquam ultra iam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
I loathe [it; ] I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days [are] vanity.
17 Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
What [is] man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
18 Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum:
And [that] thou shouldest visit him every morning, [and] try him every moment?
19 Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
20 Peccavi, quid faciam tibi o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, 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.
And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I [shall] not [be].