Chapter 7
Job
Verse 1“Has not man a hard service on earth,and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?Verse 2Like a slave who longs for the shadow,and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,Verse 3so I am allotted months of emptiness,and nights of misery are apportioned to me.Verse 4When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’But the night is long,and I toss and turn till the dawn.Verse 5My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.Verse 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttleand come to their end without hope.Verse 7“Remember that my life is a breath;my eye will never again see good.Verse 8The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.Verse 9As the cloud fades and vanishes,so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;Verse 10he returns no more to his house,nor does his place know him anymore.Verse 11“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.Verse 12Am I the sea, or a sea monster,that you set a guard over me?Verse 13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,my couch will ease my complaint,’Verse 14then you scare me with dreamsand terrify me with visions,Verse 15so that I would choose stranglingand death rather than my bones.Verse 16I loathe my life; I would not live forever.Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.Verse 17What is man, that you make so much of him,and that you set your heart on him,Verse 18visit him every morningand test him every moment?Verse 19How long will you not look away from me,nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?Verse 20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?Why have you made me your mark?Why have I become a burden to you?Verse 21Why do you not pardon my transgressionand take away my iniquity?For now I shall lie in the earth;you will seek me, but I shall not be.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.