Job 7

Revised Geneva Translation

7 “Is there not an appointed time for man upon Earth? And are not his days as the days of a hired servant?

² “As a servant longs for the shade, and as a hireling looks for the end of his work,

³ “so I have inherited months of emptiness. And painful nights have been appointed to me.

⁴ “If I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night be over?’ For I’ve had enough of tossing to and fro until dawn.

⁵ “My flesh is clothed with worms and filthiness of the dust. My skin is broken and has become loathsome.

⁶ “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. And they are spent without hope.

⁷ “Remember that my life is but a breath. My eye shall not return to see pleasure.

⁸ “The eye that has seen me, shall see me no more. Your eyes are upon me, and I shall be no longer.

⁹ “As the cloud vanishes and goes away, so he who goes down to the grave shall come up no more.

¹⁰ “He shall return no more to his house. Nor shall his place know him anymore.

¹¹ “Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth, but will speak in the trouble of my spirit, and muse in the bitterness of my mind.

¹² “Am I a sea or a dragon, that You keep me under guard?

¹³ “When I say, ‘My couch shall relieve me. My bed shall bring comfort in my meditation,’

¹⁴ “then You scare me with dreams, and astonish me with visions.

¹⁵ “Therefore, my soul chooses to be strangled and to die, rather than to be in my bones.

¹⁶ “I abhor it. I would not live forever. Spare me, then. For my days are without meaning.

¹⁷ “What is man, that You magnify him, and that You set Your Heart upon him,

¹⁸ “and visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁹ “How long will it be before You depart from me? You will not leave me alone while I can swallow my spittle.

²⁰ “I have sinned. What did I do to You, O You, Preserver of men? Why have You set me against Yourself, so that I am a burden to myself?

²¹ “And why do You not pardon my trespass, and take away my iniquity? For now, I shall sleep in the dust. And if You seek me in the morning, I shall no longer be.”