Job 7  Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

7 Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

² As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,

³ So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

⁴ When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.

⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷ Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.

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

⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more.

¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him 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 [O Lord]!

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

¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,

¹⁴ Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,

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

¹⁶ I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).

¹⁷ What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him?^(A)

¹⁸ And that You should visit him every morning and try him every moment?

¹⁹ How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

²⁰ If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men? Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?

²¹ And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently, [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.