Job, 7

1. Is not human life on earth just conscript service? Do we not live a hireling's life?

1. "Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling?

2. Like a slave, sighing for the shade, or a hireling with no thought but for his wages,

2. Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages,

3. I have months of futility assigned to me, nights of suffering to be my lot.

3. so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4. Lying in bed I wonder, 'When will it be day?' No sooner up than, 'When will evening come?' And crazy thoughts obsess me till twilight falls.

4. When I lie down I say, `When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5. Vermin and loathsome scabs cover my body; my skin is cracked and oozes pus.

5. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind.

6. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

7. Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.

7. "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.

8. The eye that once saw me will look on me no more, your eyes will turn my way, and I shall not be there.

8. The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while thy eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.

9. A cloud dissolves and is gone, so no one who goes down to Sheol ever comes up again,

9. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

10. ever comes home again, and his house knows that person no more.

10. he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more.

11. That is why I cannot keep quiet: in my anguish of spirit I shall speak, in my bitterness of soul I shall complain.

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, or some sea monster, that you should keep me under guard?

12. Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that thou settest a guard over me?

13. If I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will lighten my complaints,'

13. When I say, `My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'

14. you then frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

14. then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

15. so that strangling would seem welcome in comparison, yes, death preferable to what I suffer.

15. so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.

16. I am wasting away, my life is not unending; leave me then, for my days are but a breath.

16. I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

17. What are human beings that you should take them so seriously, subjecting them to your scrutiny,

17. What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,

18. that morning after morning you should examine them and at every instant test them?

18. dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

19. Will you never take your eyes off me long enough for me to swallow my spittle?

19. How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

20. Suppose I have sinned, what have I done to you, you tireless watcher of humanity? Why do you choose me as your target? Why should I be a burden to you?

20. If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?

21. Can you not tolerate my sin, not overlook my fault? For soon I shall be lying in the dust, you will look for me and I shall be no more.

21. Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."