Job 7

Job: My Suffering is Comfortless

7“Is there not ^aa time of hard service for man on earth?

Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?

²Like a servant who ¹earnestly desires the shade,

And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,

³So I have been allotted ^bmonths of futility,

And wearisome nights have been appointed to me.

^4cWhen I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise,

And the night be ended?’

For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.

⁵My flesh is ^dcaked with worms and dust,

My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh.

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

And are spent without hope.

⁷Oh, remember that ^fmy life is a breath!

My eye will never again see good.

^8gThe eye of him who sees me will see me no more;

While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.

⁹As the cloud disappears and vanishes away,

So ^hhe who goes down to the grave does not come up.

¹⁰He shall never return to his house,

ⁱNor shall his place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore I will ^jnot restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will ^kcomplain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea serpent,

That You set a guard over me?

^13lWhen 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 my soul chooses strangling

And death rather than ²my body.

^16mI loathe my life;

I would not live forever.

ⁿLet me alone,

For ^omy days are but ³a breath.

¹⁷“What ^pis man, that You should exalt him,

That You should set Your heart on him,

¹⁸That You should ⁴visit him every morning,

And test him every moment?

¹⁹How long?

Will You not look away from me,

And let me alone till I swallow my saliva?

²⁰Have I sinned?

What have I done to You, ^qO watcher of men?

Why ^rhave You set me as Your target,

So that I am a burden ⁵to myself?

²¹Why then do You not pardon my transgression,

And take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust,

And You will seek me diligently,

But I will no longer be.”