Job 7
1 militia est vita hominis super terram et sicut dies mercennarii 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 mercennarius 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 dico 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.
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 sum ego 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 quia ponis 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 parces mihi nec dimittis me ut gluttiam 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 mihimet ipsi 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 tolles peccatum meum et quare non auferes 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.”
