JobChapter 7

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¹"Doesn't a man have hard work to do on earth?
Aren't his days like the days of a hired worker? ²He is like a slave who longs for shade.
He is like a hired worker waiting for his pay. ³So I have been given months of emptiness.
Nights of misery have been handed to me. ⁴When I lie down, I think, 'When will I get up?'
But the night drags on.
I toss and turn until dawn. ⁵My body is covered with worms and crusty dirt.
My skin is cracked and oozing. ⁶My days go by faster than a weaver's shuttle.
They come to an end without hope. ⁷Remember that my life is only a breath.
My eyes will never see happy times again. ⁸The eye that sees me now will not see me anymore.
You will look for me, but I will be gone. ⁹A cloud fades away and is gone.
In the same way, a man who goes down to the grave does not come back up.a ¹⁰He never comes back to his house.
His home does not remember him anymore. ¹¹So I will not hold my tongue.
I will speak out of the pain in my spirit.
I will complain out of the bitterness of my soul. ¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep?
Is that why you must keep me under guard? ¹³When I think my bed will comfort me,
when I think my couch will ease my complaint, ¹⁴then you scare me with dreams.
You fill me with terror through visions. ¹⁵So I would rather be choked to death.
I would rather die than live in this body. ¹⁶I hate my life! I don't want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are only a breath. ¹⁷What is man, that you make so much of him?
Why do you pay so much attention to him? ¹⁸You check on him every morning.
You test him every moment. ¹⁹Will you never look away from me?
Won't you leave me alone long enough to swallow? ²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
O watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your target?
Why have I become a burden to you? ²¹Why don't you forgive my wrongs?
Why don't you take away my sin?
For soon I will lie down in the dust.
You will look for me, but I will be gone."