7 Isn’t mankind consigned to forced labor(A) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
2 Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired man he waits for his pay.
3 So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.(B)
4 When I lie down I think:
When will I get up?
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.[a]
My skin forms scabs[b] and then oozes.(C)
6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.(D)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.(E)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.(F)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol(G) will never rise again.
10 He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember[c] him.(H)
11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea[d](I) or a sea monster,(J)
that You keep me under guard?
13 When I say: My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 then You frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,(K)
15 so that I prefer strangling[e]—
death rather than life in this body.[f](L)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,(M) for my days are a breath.[g]
17 What is man, that You think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?(N)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.(O)
19 Will You ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?[h]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to You,
Watcher of mankind?
Why have You made me Your target,(P)
so that I have become a burden to You?[i]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my transgression?(Q)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.(R)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.(S)
Footnotes
- Job 7:5 Or and dirty scabs
- Job 7:5 Lit skin hardens
- Job 7:10 Lit know
- Job 7:12 Or the sea god
- Job 7:15 Or suffocation
- Job 7:15 Lit than my bones
- Job 7:16 Or are futile
- Job 7:19 Lit swallow my saliva?
- Job 7:20 Ancient Jewish tradition, LXX; MT, Vg read myself
Cross references
- 7:1 : Jb 14:14; Is 40:2
- 7:3 : Jb 30:17; Ps 6:6; 42:3
- 7:5 : Dt 28:35; Ps 38:5; Is 1:6
- 7:6 : Jb 14:19; 17:15; 19:10
- 7:7 : Jb 9:25; Ps 78:39; Jms 4:14
- 7:8 : Jb 7:21; 20:9; Ps 37:36
- 7:9 : Jb 11:8; 14:13; 17:13, 16
- 7:10 : Jb 8:18; 20:9; Ps 103:16
- 7:12 : Jb 26:12; Ps 74:13
- 7:12 : Ps 148:7; Is 27:1; Ezk 32:2
- 7:14 : Jb 4:13; 20:8; 33:15
- 7:15 : 1Kg 19:4; Jb 3:21; Jnh 4:3
- 7:16 : Jb 7:19; 10:20; Ps 39:13
- 7:17 : Ps 8:4; 144:3; Heb 2:6
- 7:18 : Ps 17:3; 73:14; 139:23
- 7:20 : Jb 16:12; Lm 3:12
- 7:21 : Jb 11:6; 13:23; 15:5
- 7:21 : Jb 17:16; 20:11; Is 26:19
- 7:21 : Jb 3:13; 7:8; Ps 37:36