Job 7

1 Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor  * 7:1 Jb 14:14; Is 40:2 on earth?

Are not his days like those of a hired worker?

2 Like a slave he longs for shade;

like a hired worker he waits for his pay.

3 So I have been made to inherit months of futility,

and troubled nights have been assigned to me.  * 7:3 Jb 30:17; Ps 6:6; 42:3

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.  * 7:5 Or and dirty scabs

My skin forms scabs  * 7:5 Lit skin hardens and then oozes.  * 7:5 Dt 28:35; Ps 38:5; Is 1:6

6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.  * 7:6 Jb 14:19; 17:15; 19:10

7 Remember that my life is but a breath.

My eye will never again see anything good.  * 7:7 Jb 9:25; Ps 78:39; Jms 4:14

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.  * 7:8 Jb 7:21; 20:9; Ps 37:36

9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,

so the one who goes down to Sheol  * 7:9 Jb 11:8; 14:13; 17:13,16 will never rise again.

10 He will never return to his house;

his hometown will no longer remember  * 7:10 Lit know  him.  * 7:10 Jb 8:18; 20:9; Ps 103:16

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  * 7:12 Or the sea god,* 7:12 Jb 26:12; Ps 74:13 or a sea monster,  * 7:12 Ps 148:7; Is 27:1; Ezk 32:2

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,  * 7:14 Jb 4:13; 20:8; 33:15

15 so that I prefer strangling  * 7:15 Or suffocation  —

death rather than life in this body.  * 7:15 Lit than my bones,* 7:15 1Kg 19:4; Jb 3:21; Jnh 4:3

16 I give up! I will not live forever.

Leave me alone,  * 7:16 Jb 7:19; 10:20; Ps 39:13 for my days are a breath.  * 7:16 Or are futile

17 What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him

and pay so much attention to him?  * 7:17 Ps 8:4; 144:3; Heb 2:6

18 You inspect him every morning,

and put him to the test every moment.  * 7:18 Ps 17:3; 73:14; 139:23

19 Will you ever look away from me,

or leave me alone long enough to swallow?  * 7:19 Lit swallow my saliva?

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

Watcher of humanity?

Why have you made me your target,  * 7:20 Jb 16:12; Lm 3:12

so that I have become a burden to you?  * 7:20 Alt Hb tradition, LXX; MT, Vg read myself

21 Why not forgive my sin

and pardon my iniquity?  * 7:21 Jb 11:6; 13:23; 15:5

For soon I will lie down in the grave.  * 7:21 Jb 17:16; 20:11; Is 26:19

You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.  * 7:21 Jb 3:13; 7:8; Ps 37:36