Job 7
1 Militia est vita hominis super terram: et sicut dies mercenarii, dies eius.
The life of a man on the earth is a battle, and his days are like the days of a hired hand.
2 Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius praestolatur finem operis sui:
Just as a servant desires the shade, and just as the hired hand looks forward to the end of his work,
3 Sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
so also have I had empty months and have counted my burdensome nights.
4 Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? et rursum expectabo vesperam, et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras.
If I lie down to sleep, I will say, “When will I rise?” And next I will hope for the evening and will be filled with sorrows even until darkness.
5 Induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris, cutis mea aruit, et contracta est.
My flesh is clothed with particles of rottenness and filth; my skin is dried up and tightened.
6 Dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur, et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe.
My days have passed by more quickly than threads are cut by a weaver, and they have been consumed without any hope.
7 Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona.
Remember that my life is wind, and my eye will not return to see good things.
8 Nec aspiciet me visus hominis: oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.
Neither will the sight of man gaze upon me; your eyes are upon me, and I will not endure.
9 Sicut consumitur nubes, et pertransit: sic qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet. (Sheol h7585)
Just as a cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to hell will not ascend. (Sheol h7585)
10 Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius.
He will not return again to his house, nor will his own place know him any longer.
11 Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo, loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei: confabulabor cum amaritudine animae meae.
And because of this, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the affliction of my spirit. I will converse from the bitterness of my soul.
12 Numquid mare ego sum, aut cetus, quia circumdedisti me carcere?
Am I an ocean or a whale, that you have encircled me in a prison?
13 Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo:
If I say, “My bed will comfort me, and I will find rest, speaking with myself on my blanket,”
14 Terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties.
then you will frighten me with dreams, and strike dread through visions,
15 Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
so that, because of these things, my soul would choose hanging, and my bones, death.
16 Desperavi, nequaquam ultra iam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
I despair; by no means will I live any longer. Spare me, for my days are nothing.
17 Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
What is man, that you should praise him? Or why do you place your heart near him?
18 Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum:
You visit him at dawn, and you test him unexpectedly.
19 Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
How long will you not spare me, nor release me to ingest my saliva?
20 Peccavi, quid faciam tibi o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
I have sinned; what should I do for you, O keeper of men? Why have you set me against you, so that I have become burdensome even to myself?
21 Cur non tollis peccatum meum, et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? ecce, nunc in pulvere dormiam: et si mane me quaesieris, non subsistam.
Why do you not steal away my sin, and why do you not sweep away my iniquity? Behold, now I will sleep in the dust, and if you seek me in the morning, I will not remain.
