Job 7

7“Do not mortals have hard service^m on earth?ⁿ

Are not their days like those of hired laborers?^o

²Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,^p

or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,^q

³so I have been allotted months of futility,

and nights of misery have been assigned to me.^r

⁴When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’^s

The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.^t

⁵My body is clothed with worms^u and scabs,

my skin is broken and festering.^v

⁶“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,^w

and they come to an end without hope.^x

⁷Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;^y

my eyes will never see happiness again.^z

⁸The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;

you will look for me, but I will be no more.^a

⁹As a cloud vanishes^b and is gone,

so one who goes down to the grave^c does not return.^d

¹⁰He will never come to his house again;

his place^e will know him no more.^f

¹¹“Therefore I will not keep silent;^g

I will speak out in the anguish^h of my spirit,

I will complainⁱ in the bitterness of my soul.^j

¹²Am I the sea,^k or the monster of the deep,^l

that you put me under guard?^m

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me

and my couch will ease my complaint,ⁿ

¹⁴even then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify^o me with visions,^p

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling and death,^q

rather than this body of mine.^r

¹⁶I despise my life;^s I would not live forever.^t

Let me alone;^u my days have no meaning.^v

¹⁷“What is mankind that you make so much of them,

that you give them so much attention,^w

¹⁸that you examine them every morning^x

and test them^y every moment?^z

¹⁹Will you never look away from me,^a

or let me alone even for an instant?^b

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

you who sees everything we do?

Why have you made me your target?^d

Have I become a burden to you?^ae

²¹Why do you not pardon my offenses

and forgive my sins?^f

For I will soon lie down in the dust;^g

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