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Human life is like forced army service,
    like a life of hard manual labor,
    like a slave longing for cool shade;
    like a worker waiting to be paid.
Month after month I have nothing to live for;
    night after night brings me grief.
When I lie down to sleep, the hours drag;
    I toss all night and long for dawn.
My body is full of worms;
    it is covered with scabs;
    pus runs out of my sores.
My days pass by without hope,
    pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.[a]

Remember, O God, my life is only a breath;
    my happiness has already ended.
You see me now, but never again.
    If you look for me, I'll be gone.
9-10 (A)Like a cloud that fades and is gone,
    we humans die and never return;
    we are forgotten by all who knew us.
11 No! I can't be quiet!
    I am angry and bitter.
    I have to speak.

12 Why do you keep me under guard?
    Do you think I am a sea monster?[b]
13 I lie down and try to rest;
    I look for relief from my pain.
14 But you—you terrify me with dreams;
    you send me visions and nightmares
15     until I would rather be strangled
    than live in this miserable body.
16 I give up; I am tired of living.
Leave me alone. My life makes no sense.

17 (B)Why are people so important to you?
    Why pay attention to what they do?
18 You inspect them every morning
    and test them every minute.
19 Won't you look away long enough
    for me to swallow my spit?
20 Are you harmed by my sin, you jailer?
    Why use me for your target practice?
    Am I so great a burden to you?
21 Can't you ever forgive my sin?
    Can't you pardon the wrong I do?
Soon I will be in my grave,
    and I'll be gone when you look for me.

Footnotes

  1. Job 7:6 A small device in the loom which carries threads back and forth rapidly in weaving cloth.
  2. Job 7:12 A reference to ancient stories in which sea monsters had to be guarded so that they would not escape and do damage.

“Do not mortals have hard service(A) on earth?(B)
    Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(C)
Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(D)
    or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(E)
so I have been allotted months of futility,
    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(F)
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)
My body is clothed with worms(I) and scabs,
    my skin is broken and festering.(J)

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,(K)
    and they come to an end without hope.(L)
Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;(M)
    my eyes will never see happiness again.(N)
The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
    you will look for me, but I will be no more.(O)
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

  1. 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.