Job 7

Job Continues: Life Seems Futile

1 Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand? 2 Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hired man he waits for his wages. 3 So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me. 4 When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. 7 Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness. 8 The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol will never rise again. 10 He will never return to his house; his place will remember him no more. 11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard? 13 When I think my bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint, 14 then You frighten me with dreams, and terrify me with visions, 15 so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body. 16 I loathe [my life] ! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days [are] [but] a breath. 17 What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him, 18 that You attend to him every morning, [and] test him every moment? 19 Will You never look away from me, or let me alone to swallow my spittle? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O Watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You? 21 Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”