Job 7

Modern

Literal

Job Continues: Life Seems Futile

¹“Is not man consigned to labor on earth?

Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

¹“ Is there not hard service for man on earth? Are his days like the days of a hireling?

²Like a slave he longs for shade;

like a hireling he waits for his wages.

²As a servant longs for shade, and as a hireling awaits his wages,

³So I am allotted months of futility,

and nights of misery are appointed to me.

³so are allotted to me months of emptiness, and nights of toil are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down I think:

‘When will I get up?’

But the night drags on,

and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁴When I lie down, then I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is measured out, and I am full of tossings until dawn.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms

and encrusted with dirt;

my skin is cracked and festering.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worm and clod of the dust; my skin breaks and festers.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; and they end without hope.

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath.

My eyes will never again see happiness.

⁷Remember that my life is a breath; my eye shall not return to see good.

⁸The eye that beholds me will no longer see me.

You will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁸The eye of the one seeing me shall not behold me; your eyes are on me, and I will be no more.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone,

so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

⁹As a cloud is consumed and goes away, so the one going down to Sheol does not ascend.

¹⁰He never returns to his house;

his place remembers him no more.

¹⁰He shall not return again to his house, nor shall his place recognize him anymore.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹¹So I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,

that You must keep me under guard?

¹²Am I a sea or the sea monster, that You would set a guard over me?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me

and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹³When I say, My bed will comfort me, my couch will lift my complaint,

¹⁴then You frighten me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

¹⁴then You shatter me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and death

over my life in this body.

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

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever.

Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁶I loathe—I would not live forever! Cease from me, for my days are vapor.

¹⁷What is man that You should exalt him,

that You should set Your heart upon him,

¹⁷What is man that You should magnify him, and that You would set Your heart toward him,

¹⁸that You attend to him every morning,

and test him every moment?

¹⁸that You attend to him in the mornings; in the moments You will test him?

¹⁹Will You never look away from me,

or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

¹⁹How long will You not look away from me? Will You not leave me alone until I swallow my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You,

O watcher of mankind?

Why have You made me Your target,

so that I am a burden to You?^a

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You set me to be a target for You and why should I be a burden to You?

²¹Why do You not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For soon I will lie down in the dust;

You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

²¹And why do You not lift my transgression and make my iniquity pass away? For now in the dust I shall lie down, and You will seek me, and I will not be there.”