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Job 7
Common English Bible
Job 7
Common English Bible
The human condition
7 Isn’t slavery everyone’s condition on earth,
our days like those of a hired worker?
2 Like a slave we pant for a shadow,
await our task like a hired worker.
3 So I have inherited months of emptiness;
nights of toil have been measured out for me.
4 If I lie down and think—When will I get up?—
night drags on,[a] and restless thoughts fill me until dawn.
5 My flesh is covered with worms and crusted earth;
my skin hardens and oozes.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;
they reach their end without hope.[b]
7 Remember that my life is wind;
my eyes won’t see pleasure again.
8 The eye that sees me now will no longer look on me;
your eyes will be on me, and I won’t exist.
9 A cloud breaks apart and moves on—
like the one who descends to the grave[c] and won’t rise,
10 won’t return home again,
won’t be recognized in town anymore.
Job wants to be left alone
11 But I won’t keep quiet;
I will speak in the adversity of my spirit,
groan in the bitterness of my life.
12 Am I Sea[d] or the Sea Monster[e]
that you place me under guard?
13 If I say, “My couch will comfort me,”
my bed will diminish my murmuring.
14 You scare me with dreams,
frighten me with visions.
15 I would choose strangling
and death instead of my bones.
16 I reject life;[f] I don’t want to live long;
leave me alone, for my days are empty.
A parody of Psalm 8
17 What are human beings, that you exalt them,
that you take note of them,
18 visit them each morning,
test them every moment?
19 Why not look away from me;
let me alone until I swallow my spit?
20 If I sinned, what did I do to you,
guardian of people?
Why have you made me your target
so that I’m a burden to myself?
21 Why not forgive my sin,
overlook my iniquity?
Then I would lie down in the dust;
you would search hard for me,
and I would not exist.
Job 7
New International Version
Job 7
New International Version
7 “Do not mortals have hard service(A) on earth?(B)
Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(C)
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(D)
or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(E)
3 so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(F)
4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’(G)
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.(H)
5 My body is clothed with worms(I) and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.(J)
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,(K)
and they come to an end without hope.(L)
7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;(M)
my eyes will never see happiness again.(N)
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.(O)
9 As a cloud vanishes(P) and is gone,
so one who goes down to the grave(Q) does not return.(R)
10 He will never come to his house again;
his place(S) will know him no more.(T)
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent;(U)
I will speak out in the anguish(V) of my spirit,
I will complain(W) in the bitterness of my soul.(X)
12 Am I the sea,(Y) or the monster of the deep,(Z)
that you put me under guard?(AA)
13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,(AB)
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify(AC) me with visions,(AD)
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,(AE)
rather than this body of mine.(AF)
16 I despise my life;(AG) I would not live forever.(AH)
Let me alone;(AI) my days have no meaning.(AJ)
17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,(AK)
18 that you examine them every morning(AL)
and test them(AM) every moment?(AN)
19 Will you never look away from me,(AO)
or let me alone even for an instant?(AP)
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,(AQ)
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?(AR)
Have I become a burden to you?[a](AS)
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?(AT)
For I will soon lie down in the dust;(AU)
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”(AV)
Footnotes
- Job 7:20 A few manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition and Septuagint; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text I have become a burden to myself.
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.