MSB JOB Chapter 7

Job Continues: Life Seems Futile

[“] 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.”