Job 7

7“People have a hard task on earth,

and their days are like those of a laborer.

²They are like a slave wishing for the evening shadows,

like a laborer waiting to be paid.

³But I am given months that are empty,

and nights of misery have been given to me.

⁴When I lie down, I think, ‘How long until I get up?’

The night is long, and I toss until dawn.

⁵My body is covered with worms and scabs,

and my skin is broken and full of sores.

⁶“My days go by faster than a weaver’s tool,

and they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember, God, that my life is only a breath.

My eyes will never see happy times again.

⁸Those who see me now will see me no more;

you will look for me, but I will be gone.

⁹As a cloud disappears and is gone,

people go to the grave and never return.

¹⁰They will never come back to their houses again,

and their places will not know them anymore.

¹¹“So I will not stay quiet;

I will speak out in the suffering of my spirit.

I will complain because I am so unhappy.

¹²I am not the sea or the sea monster.

So why have you set a guard over me?

¹³Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me

or that my couch will stop my complaint.

¹⁴Then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me with visions.

¹⁵My throat prefers to be choked;

my bones welcome death.

¹⁶I hate my life; I don’t want to live forever.

Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

¹⁷“Why do you make people so important

and give them so much attention?

¹⁸You examine them every morning

and test them every moment.

¹⁹Will you never look away from me

or leave me alone even long enough to swallow?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you,

you watcher of humans?

Why have you made me your target?

Have I become a heavy load for you?

²¹Why don’t you pardon my wrongs

and forgive my sins?

I will soon lie down in the dust of death.

Then you will search for me, but I will be no more.”