The Brevity of Life
7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service on earth?
Are not their days also
like the days of a hired man?
7:2 Like a servant longing for the evening shadow,
and like a hired man looking for his wages,
7:3 thus I have been made to inherit
months of futility,
and nights of sorrow
have been appointed to me.
7:4 If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’,
and the night stretches on
and I toss and turn restlessly
until the day dawns.
7:5 My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs;
my skin is broken and festering.
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
and they come to an end without hope.
7:7 Remember that my life is but a breath,
that my eyes will never again see happiness.
7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more;
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
7:9 As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears,
so the one who goes down to the grave
does not come up again.
7:10 He returns no more to his house,
nor does his place of residence know him any more.
Job Remonstrates with God
7:11 “Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep,
that you must put me under guard?
7:13 If I say, “My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,”
7:14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
7:15 so that I would prefer strangling,
and death more than life.
7:16 I loathe it; I do not want to live forever;
leave me alone, for my days are a vapor!
Insignificance of Humans
7:17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
and that you pay attention to them?
7:18 And that you visit them every morning,
and try them every moment?
7:19 Will you never look away from me,
will you not let me alone
long enough to swallow my spittle?
7:20 If I have sinned – what have I done to you,
O watcher of men?
Why have you set me as your target?
Have I become a burden to you?
7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,
and take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust,
and you will seek me diligently,
but I will be gone.”

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