Job 7

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

1 “Has not man aa hard service on earth,
and are not his bdays like the days of a hired hand?
2Like a slave who longs for cthe shadow,
and like da hired hand who looks for his ewages,
3so I am allotted months of femptiness,
gand nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 hWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5My flesh is clothed with iworms and jdirt;
my skin hardens, then kbreaks out afresh.
6My days are lswifter than ma weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 Remember that my life is a nbreath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 oThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, pI shall be gone.
9As qthe cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who rgoes down to Sheol does not come up;
10he sreturns no more to his house,
nor does his tplace know him anymore.
11 Therefore I will not urestrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will vcomplain in wthe bitterness of my soul.
12Am I the sea, or xa sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 yWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my zbones.
16I aaloathe my life; I would not live forever.
abLeave me alone, for my days are aca breath.
17 adWhat is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 aevisit him every morning
and aftest him every moment?
19How long will you not aglook away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me ahyour mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in aithe earth;
you will ajseek me, akbut I shall not be.”
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