Job 7:1-8:3

English Standard Version

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

7 “Has not man ^(A)a hard service on earth,
    and are not his ^(B)days like the days of a hired hand?
²Like a slave who longs for ^(C)the shadow,
    and like ^(D)a hired hand who looks for his ^(E)wages,
³so I am allotted months of ^(F)emptiness,
    ^(G)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
⁴^(H)When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
⁵My flesh is clothed with ^(I)worms and ^(J)dirt;
    my skin hardens, then ^(K)breaks out afresh.
⁶My days are ^(L)swifter than ^(M)a weaver's shuttle
    and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a ^(N)breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
⁸^(O)The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, ^(P)I shall be gone.
⁹As ^(Q)the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so he who ^(R)goes down to Sheol does not come up;
¹⁰he ^(S)returns no more to his house,
    nor does his ^(T)place know him anymore.

¹¹“Therefore I will not ^(U)restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will ^(V)complain in ^(W)the bitterness of my soul.
¹²Am I the sea, or ^(X)a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?
¹³^(Y)When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than my ^(Z)bones.
¹⁶I ^(AA)loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    ^(AB)Leave me alone, for my days are ^(AC)a breath.
¹⁷^(AD)What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
¹⁸^(AE)visit him every morning
    and ^(AF)test him every moment?
¹⁹How long will you not ^(AG)look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
    Why have you made me ^(AH)your mark?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in ^(AI)the earth;
    you will ^(AJ)seek me, ^(AK)but I shall not be.”

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

8 Then ^(AL)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a ^(AM)great wind?
³^(AN)Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?