Job 7

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

1 "Has not man *ch. 14:14;Isa. 40:2a hard service on earth,

and are not his *ch. 14:5;Ps. 39:4days like the days of a hired hand?

2 Like a slave who longs for *Song 2:17;4:6;Jer. 6:4the shadow,

and like *ch. 14:6a hired hand who looks for his *Lev. 19:13wages,

3 so I am allotted months of *ver. 16emptiness,

*[ch. 30:17]and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4 *Deut. 28:67When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long,

and I toss and turn till the dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with *Isa. 14:11worms and *[ch. 2:8] dirt;

my skin hardens, then *[ch. 2:7]breaks out afresh.

6 My days are *ch. 9:25swifter than *[Isa. 38:12]a weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.

7 "Remember that my life is a *ch. 6:26;Ps. 78:39breath;

my eye will never again see good.

8 *ch. 20:9;[ch. 8:18;Ps. 37:36] The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;

while your eyes are on me, *[ver. 2]I shall be gone.

9 As *ch. 30:15the cloud fades and vanishes,

so he who *See ch. 21:13goes down to Sheol does not come up;

10 he *ch. 10:21;2 Sam. 12:23returns no more to his house,

nor does his *ch. 20:9;Ps. 103:16;[ch. 8:18]place know him anymore.

11 "Therefore I will not *Ps. 40:9restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will *ch. 21:4;Ps. 77:3complain in *ch. 10:1;21:25;1 Sam. 1:10;Isa. 38:15;[ch. 3:20]the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea, or *Gen. 1:21a sea monster,

that you set a guard over me?

13 *[ch. 9:27]When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,’

14 then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

15 so that I would choose strangling

and death rather than my *[ch. 19:20;30:17]bones.

16 I *[ch. 9:21;10:1] loathe my life; I would not live forever.

*ch. 10:20;14:6;Ex. 14:12;[Ps. 39:13] Leave me alone, for my days are *ver. 3a breath.

17 *Ps. 8:4;144:3;Heb. 2:6What is man, that you make so much of him,

and that you set your heart on him,

18 *Ps. 17:3visit him every morning

and *Ps. 11:4,5test him every moment?

19 How long will you not *ch. 14:6look away from me,

nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me *ch. 16:12;Lam. 3:12your mark?

Why have I become a burden to you?

21 Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now I shall lie in *Dan. 12:2the earth;

you will *[ch. 8:5;24:5;Prov. 1:28] seek me, *[ver. 8]but I shall not be."