Job 7

¹The life of a man on the earth is a battle, and his days are like the days of a hired hand

²Just as a servant desires the shade, and just as the hired hand looks forward to the end of his work

³so also have I had empty months and have counted my burdensome nights

⁴If I lie down to sleep, I will say, “When will I rise?” And next I will hope for the evening and will be filled with sorrows even until darkness

⁵My flesh is clothed with particles of rottenness and filth; my skin is dried up and tightened

⁶My days have passed by more quickly than threads are cut by a weaver, and they have been consumed without any hope

⁷Remember that my life is wind, and my eye will not return to see good things

⁸Neither will the sight of man gaze upon me; your eyes are upon me, and I will not endure

⁹Just as a cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to hell will not ascend

¹⁰He will not return again to his house, nor will his own place know him any longer

¹¹And because of this, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the affliction of my spirit. I will converse from the bitterness of my soul

¹²Am I an ocean or a whale, that you have encircled me in a prison

¹³If I say, “My bed will comfort me, and I will find rest, speaking with myself on my blanket,

¹⁴then you will frighten me with dreams, and strike dread through visions

¹⁵so that, because of these things, my soul would choose hanging, and my bones, death

¹⁶I despair; by no means will I live any longer. Spare me, for my days are nothing

¹⁷What is man, that you should praise him? Or why do you place your heart near him

¹⁸You visit him at dawn, and you test him unexpectedly

¹⁹How long will you not spare me, nor release me to ingest my saliva

²⁰I have sinned; what should I do for you, O keeper of men? Why have you set me against you, so that I have become burdensome even to myself

²¹Why do you not steal away my sin, and why do you not sweep away my iniquity? Behold, now I will sleep in the dust, and if you seek me in the morning, I will not remain