Job 7
1 Militia est vita hominis super terram: et sicut dies mercenarii, dies eius.
“Isn't life for human beings like serving a sentence of hard labor? Don't their days pass like those of a hired laborer?
2 Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius praestolatur finem operis sui:
Like some slave longing for a bit of shade, like a hired hand anxiously waiting for pay day,
3 Sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi.
I've been given months of emptiness and nights of misery.
4 Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? et rursum expectabo vesperam, et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras.
When I go to bed I ask, ‘When shall I get up?’ But the night goes on and on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 Induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris, cutis mea aruit, et contracta est.
My body is covered with maggots and caked in dirt; my skin is cracked, with oozing sores.
6 Dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur, et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe.
My days pass quicker than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope.
7 Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona.
Remember that my life is just a breath; I will not see happiness again.
8 Nec aspiciet me visus hominis: oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.
Those watching me won't see me anymore; 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)
When a cloud disappears, it's gone, just as anyone who goes down to Sheol does not come back up. (Sheol h7585)
10 Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius.
They will never return home, and the people they knew will forget them.
11 Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo, loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei: confabulabor cum amaritudine animae meae.
So, no, I won't hold my tongue—I will speak in the agony 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 the sea or a sea monster that you have to guard me?
13 Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo:
If I tell myself, ‘I'll feel better if I lie down in my bed,’ or ‘it will help me to lie down on my couch,’
14 Terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties.
then you scare me so much with dreams and terrify me with visions
15 Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea.
that I would rather be strangled—I would rather die than become just a bag of bones.
16 Desperavi, nequaquam ultra iam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.
I hate my life! I know I won't live long. Leave me alone because my life is just a breath.
17 Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?
Why are human beings so important to you; why are you so concerned about them
18 Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum:
that you inspect them every morning and test them every moment? Won't you ever stop staring at me?
19 Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam?
Won't you ever leave me alone long enough to catch my breath?
20 Peccavi, quid faciam tibi o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis?
What have I done wrong? What have I done to you, Watcher of Humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I'm a burden 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.
If so why don't you pardon my sins, and take away my guilt? Right now I'm going to lie down in the dust, and though you will look for me, I will be gone.”
