Job 7
1Does not man have hard labor on earth? 1 Are not his days like the days of a hired man? 1
2Like a slave earnestly desires the shadows of evening, 1 like a hired man looks for his wages— 1
3so I have been made to endure months of misery; 1 I have been given trouble-filled nights. 1
4When I lie down, I say to myself, 1 'When will I get up and when will the night be gone?' 1 I am full of tossing to and fro until the day's dawning. 1
5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; 1 the sores in my skin harden up and then dissolve and run afresh. 1
6My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; 1 they pass without hope. 1
7God, call to mind that my life is only a breath; 1 my eye will no more see good. 1
8The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more; 1 God's eyes will be on me, but I will not exist. 1
9As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away, 1 so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. 1
10He will return no more to his house; 1 neither will his place know him again. 1
11Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; 1 I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; 1 I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 1
12Am I the sea or a sea monster 1 that you place a guard over me? 1
13When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, 1 and my couch will ease my complaint,' 1
14then you scare me with dreams 1 and terrify me through visions, 1
15so that I would choose strangling 1 and death rather than preserving these bones of mine. 1
16I loathe my life; I would not wish to always be alive; 1 let me alone for my days are useless. 1
17What is man that you should pay attention to him, 1 that you should set your mind on him, 1
18that you should observe him every morning 1 and test him every moment? 1
19How long will it be before you look away from me, 1 before you let me alone long enough for me to swallow down my own saliva? 1
20Even if I have sinned, what would that do to you, you who watch men? 1 Why have you made a target of me, 1 so that I am a burden for you? 1
21Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? 1 For now will I lie down in the dust; 1 you will seek me carefully, but I will not exist.”