Job 7

Human Life Is Hard Service

1“Does not a human have hard service on earth?
Are not his days like the days of a hired worker? 2Like a servant longing for shade,
and like a hired worker waiting for wages, 3so I have been allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me. 4When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I rise?’
But the night is long,
and I am filled with restlessness until dawn. 5My flesh is clothed with worms and crusts of dust;
my skin hardens and breaks out again. 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to an end without hope.

Remember That My Life Is Breath

7Remember that my life is breath;
my eye will not again see good. 8The eye of the one who sees me will see me no more;
your eyes will be upon me,
but I will not be. 9As a cloud fades and goes away,
so one who goes down to Sheol does not come up. 10He returns no more to his house,
and his place knows him no more.

I Will Speak in the Anguish of My Spirit

11So I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me? 13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me;
my couch will ease my complaint,’ 14then you terrify me with dreams
and frighten me with visions, 15so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than these bones. 16I reject my life; I would not live forever.
Leave me alone,
for my days are breath.

What Is a Human That You Examine Him?

17What is a human that you make so much of him,
that you set your heart upon him, 18that you visit him every morning
and test him every moment? 19How long will you not look away from me
or leave me alone long enough to swallow my spit? 20If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
Watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,
so that I have become a burden to you? 21Why do you not forgive my transgression
and pass over my guilt?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
you will seek me,
but I will not be.”