Job 7

1 “Isn't life for human beings like serving a sentence of hard labor? Don't their days pass like those of a hired laborer?

Is there not a warfare to a mortal, upon earth? And, as the days of a hireling, are not his days?

2 Like some slave longing for a bit of shade, like a hired hand anxiously waiting for pay day,

As, a bondman, panteth for the shadow, and as, a hireling, longeth for his wage,

3 I've been given months of emptiness and nights of misery.

So, have I been made to inherit months of calamity, and, nights of weariness, have been appointed me.

4 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.

As soon as I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? yet he lengtheneth out the evening, and I am wearied with tossings until the breeze of twilight.

5 My body is covered with maggots and caked in dirt; my skin is cracked, with oozing sores.

My flesh is clothed with worms and a coating of dust, My skin, hath hardened, and then run afresh:

6 My days pass quicker than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope.

My days, are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they are spent, without hope.

7 Remember that my life is just a breath; I will not see happiness again.

Remember thou, that, a wind, is my life, not again shall mine eye see blessing:

8 Those watching me won't see me anymore; your eyes will be looking for me, but I will be gone.

Nor shall see me—the eye that used to behold me, Thine eyes, are upon me, and I am not.

9 When a cloud disappears, it's gone, just as anyone who goes down to Sheol does not come back up. (Sheol h7585)

A cloud faileth, and is gone, So, he that descendeth to hades, shall not come up: (Sheol h7585)

10 They will never return home, and the people they knew will forget them.

He shall not return again to his house, and his own place shall be acquainted with him no more.

11 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.

I also, cannot restrain my mouth, —I must speak, in the anguish of my spirit, I must find utterance, in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea or a sea monster that you have to guard me?

Am, I, a sea, or a sea-monster, —That thou shouldst set over me a watch?

13 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,’

When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall help to carry my complaint,

14 then you scare me so much with dreams and terrify me with visions

Then thou scarest me with dreams, and, by visions, dost thou terrify me:

15 that I would rather be strangled—I would rather die than become just a bag of bones.

So that my soul chooseth strangling, Death, rather than [these] my bones!

16 I hate my life! I know I won't live long. Leave me alone because my life is just a breath.

I am wasted away, Not, to times age-abiding, can I live, Let me alone, for, a breath, are my days.

17 Why are human beings so important to you; why are you so concerned about them

What is a mortal, that thou shouldst nurture him? Or that thou shouldst fix upon him thy mind?

18 that you inspect them every morning and test them every moment? Won't you ever stop staring at me?

That thou shouldst inspect him morning by morning, moment by moment, shouldst test him?

19 Won't you ever leave me alone long enough to catch my breath?

How long wilt thou not look away from me? Wilt thou not let me alone, till I can swallow my spittle?

20 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?

I have sinned, What can I do for thee, thou watcher of men? Wherefore hast thou set me as thine object of attack, or have I become, unto thee, a burden?

21 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.”

And why wilt thou not remove my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For, now, in the dust, should I lie down, and thou shouldst seek me diligently, and I should not be.