Job

CHAPTER 7

1^a Is not life on earth a drudgery,^*

its days like those of a hireling?

2Like a slave who longs for the shade,

a hireling who waits for wages,

3So I have been assigned months of futility,

and troubled nights have been counted off for me.

4When I lie down I say, “When shall I arise?”

then the night drags on;

I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.

5My flesh is clothed with worms and scabs;^b

my skin cracks and festers;

6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.

7Remember that my life is like the wind;^c

my eye will not see happiness again.

8The eye that now sees me shall no more behold me;

when your eye is on me, I shall be gone.

9As a cloud dissolves and vanishes,^d

so whoever goes down to Sheol shall not come up.

10They shall not return home again;

their place shall know them no more.

11My own utterance I will not restrain;

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 dragon,

that you place a watch over me?^*

13When I say, “My bed shall comfort me,

my couch shall ease my complaint,”

14Then you frighten me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

15So that I should prefer strangulation

and death rather than my existence.^*

16I waste away: I will not live forever;^e

let me alone, for my days are but a breath.

17^* What are human beings, that you make much of them,

or pay them any heed?

18You observe them every morning^f

and try them at every moment!

19How long before you look away from me,

and let me alone till I swallow my spit?

20If I sin, what do I do to you,

O watcher of mortals?

Why have you made me your target?

Why should I be a burden for you?

21Why do you not pardon my offense,

or take away my guilt?

For soon I shall lie down in the dust;

and should you seek me I shall be gone.

* [7:1] Drudgery: taken by some to refer to military service; cf. also 14:14.

* [7:12–21] Job now speaks not to his friends (who never speak to God), but to God. He does this frequently; cf. 9:28; 10:2–22; 13:20–28; 14:13–22.

* [7:12] An allusion to the personification of primeval chaos as a monstrous ocean vanquished by God; see note on 3:8.

* [7:15] Existence: lit., bones; the Hebrew is unclear.

* [7:17–18] An ironic allusion to Ps 8:5.

a. [7:1] Jb 14:14.

b. [7:5] Jb 2:7–8.

c. [7:7] Ps 144:4.

d. [7:9–10] Jb 10:21; 14:10–12; 2 Sm 12:23; 14:14;Wis 2:1.

e. [7:16] Jb 14:1–2, 5.

f. [7:18] Ps 17:3.