Job Continues: Life Seems Futile

7 [ “] Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

2 Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

3 So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me.

4 When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

7 Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

8 The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.

9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

10 He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

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.

12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard?

13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

14 then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

15 so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

16 I loathe [my life]! I would not live forever. Leave me alone for my days [are] [but] a breath.

17 What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

18 that You attend to him every morning, [and] test him every moment?

19 Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

20 If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You[fn]?

21 Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”