Job 7 - Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Job Continues

Why Is Life So Hard?

7 Why is life so hard?
Why do we suffer?
2 We are slaves in search of shade;
we are laborers longing
for our wages.
3 God has made my days drag on
and my nights miserable.
4 I pray for night to end,
but it stretches out
while I toss and turn.
5 My parched skin is covered
with worms, dirt, and sores,
6 and my days are running out
quicker than the thread
of a fast-moving needle.

Don't Forget!

7 I beg you, God, don't forget!
My life is just a breath,
and trouble lies ahead.
8 I will vanish from sight,
and no one, including you,
will ever see me again.
9 (A) I will disappear in the grave
or vanish from sight
like a passing cloud.
10 Never will I return home;
soon I will be forgotten.

11 And so, I cry out to you
in agony and distress.
12 Am I the sea or a sea monster?
Is that why you imprison me?[a]
13 I go to bed, hoping for rest,
14 but you torture me
with terrible dreams.
* 15 I'd rather choke to death
than live in this body.
16 Leave me alone and let me die;
my life has no meaning.[b]
17 (B) What makes you so concerned
about us humans?
18 Why do you test us
from sunrise to sunset?
19 Won't you look away
just long enough
for me to swallow?
20 Why do you watch us so closely?
What's it to you, if I sin?
Why am I your target
and such a heavy burden?
21 Why do you refuse to forgive?
Soon you won't find me,
because I'll be dead.

Footnotes

  1. 7.12 sea monster … imprison me: “Sea monster” translates the Hebrew word “Tannin,” which was possibly a sea monster similar to Leviathan (3.8), Rahab (9.13), and Behemoth (40.15). According to 38.8-11, God makes the sea his prisoner by setting its boundaries.
  2. 7.16 my life … meaning: Or “my life will soon be over.”

Cross references

  1. 7.9,10 : Ws 2.1-4.
  2. 7.17 : Ps 8.4; 144.3.

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