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Job: My Suffering Is without End

‘Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
    and are not their days like the days of a labourer?
Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
    and like labourers who look for their wages,
so I am allotted months of emptiness,
    and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
When I lie down I say, “When shall I rise?”
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing until dawn.
My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
    my skin hardens, then breaks out again.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
    and come to their end without hope.[a]

‘Remember that my life is a breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
The eye that beholds me will see me no more;
    while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
As the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;
10 they return no more to their houses,
    nor do their places know them any more.

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 the Dragon,
    that you set a guard over me?
13 When I say, “My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint”,
14 then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than this body.
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 make so much of them,
    that you set your mind on them,
18 visit them every morning,
    test them every moment?
19 Will you not look away from me for a while,
    let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?
    Why have you made me your target?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
    you will seek me, but I shall not be.’

Footnotes

  1. Job 7:6 Or as the thread runs out

“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.