Job
7
- "Does not man have hard service on
earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man ?
- Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,
or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages,
- so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
- When I lie down I think, 'How long before
I get up?' The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.
- My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.
- "My days are swifter than a weaver's
shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.
- Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.
- The eye that now sees me will see me no
longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more.
- As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who
goes down to the grave does not return.
- He will never come to his house again; his
place will know him no more.
- "Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness
of my soul.
- Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard ?
- When I think my bed will comfort me and
my couch will ease my complaint,
- even then you frighten me with dreams and
terrify me with visions,
- so that I prefer strangling and death, rather
than this body of mine.
- I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.
- "What is man that you make so much
of him, that you give him so much attention,
- that you examine him every morning and test
him every moment ?
- Will you never look away from me, or let
me alone even for an instant ?
- If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden
to you ?
- Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive
my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but
I will be no more."
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