Job 7

Job complains to God

1“People need to work hard on this earth, like soldiers do;

all during the time that we are alive, we work hard [RHQ], like laborers/servants do.

2We are like [SIM] slaves who keep wanting to be in the cool shade,

and we are like [SIM] workers who are waiting to be paid.

3God has given me many months in which I think that it is useless to remain alive;

he has allotted/given to me many nights during which I feel miserable.

4When I lie down at night I say, ‘How long will it be until morning?’

But nights are long, and I ◄toss/turn over and over► on my bed until dawn.

5My body is covered with maggots and scabs;

pus oozes out of my open sores.

6My days pass as quickly as a weaver’s ◄shuttle/stick that takes the thread back and forth►,

and they end without my confidently expecting that things will be better the next day.

7God, do not forget that my life is as short as a breath [MET];

I think that I [SYN] will never again be happy.

8God, you [SYN] see me now,

but some day you will not see me any more.

You will search for me, but I will be gone because I will be dead.

9Like [SIM] clouds ◄disperse/break up► and then disappear,

people die and descend to the place where dead people are, and they do not return;

10they never return to their houses,

and people among whom they lived do not remember them any more.

11So, I will not be silent;

while I am suffering I will speak;

I will complain to God about what has happened to me

because I [SYN] am very angry.

12God, why do you watch closely what I am doing?

Do you think that I am a dangerous sea monster?

13When I lie down at night, I think, ‘I will be comforted here on my bed;

my pain will be less while I am sleeping.’

14But then you give me dreams that cause me to be afraid;

you give me visions that terrify me,

15with the result that I would prefer to be strangled to death

than to continue to be alive being only a bunch of bones.

16I detest continuing to be alive; I do not want to live for many years [HYP].

Allow me to be alone, because I will be alive for only a very short remaining time [HYP].

17“We human beings are not very important;

so, why do you pay a lot of attention to us [DOU]?

18You look at us every morning to see what we are doing,

and examine us every moment to see if we are doing what is right.

19◄When will you stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit?/Please stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit.► [RHQ]

20Why do you watch me constantly?

If I sin, that certainly does not harm you!

Why have you set me up like a target to shoot at?

Do you consider me to be a heavy load that you are forced to carry?

21If I have sinned, are you not able to forgive me for my sins—

the things that I have done that are wrong?

Soon I will lie in my grave;

you will search for me, but you will not find me because I will be dead and gone.”