Job 7

1‘Men always have a lot of work to do on this earth.

They have to work every day like servants.

2A slave waits for the end of the day so that he can stop his work.

A servant waits until his master pays him.

3But I have nothing to wait for.

Every night, when I lie down to sleep, I am sad.

4When I lie down I want the night to end.

But it does not end, and I cannot sleep. At last, dawn comes.

5There are insects all over my body.

All of my skin is painful.

6My life is passing very fast. It is passing as fast as the shuttle of a weaver.

But I cannot hope that it will get any better.’

7‘Remember, God, that my life is as short as a breath.

I know that I will never be happy again.

8You see me now but soon you will not see me.

You will look for me, but I will have gone.

9A cloud passes across the sky and then it is gone. You never see it again.

That is like a person who dies. He never returns to the earth.

10He will never come back to his house again.

People who knew him soon forget him.

11So I will not be quiet. I will speak to tell you how angry I am.

I will speak to say how very sad I feel.

12Perhaps you have to watch the animals that live in the sea.

But I do not understand why you have to watch me every day.

13I lie down and try to rest.

Perhaps my pain will be less when I am asleep.

14But even then you cause me to dream and that frightens me.

I am afraid when I see things in the night.

15I would rather die than continue a life like this.

16I hate my life and I do not want to live any more.

My life has no meaning.

So let me die alone.

17You seem to think that men are very important.

You seem to have a lot of interest in men.

18You seem to watch them every morning.

And you seem to check what they are doing at each moment of the day.
I would like to know why you are like that.

19It seems that you never stop watching me.

It seems that I cannot be alone, even for a moment.

20You seem to think that I have done wrong things.

You watch what men do. I know that. But I do not know what I have done to you.

I do not know why you have chosen to watch me.

You seem to think that I have caused trouble for you.

21I do not know why you do not excuse me.

I do not know why you do not forgive me for my sins.

Soon I will die and my friends will bury me.

Then you will look for me, but you will not find me.’