约伯记 7
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
7 “人生在世岂不像服劳役吗？
他有生之年岂不像个雇工吗？
2 他像切望阴凉的奴隶，
又如盼望报酬的雇工。
3 同样，我注定要度过虚空的岁月，
熬过悲惨的黑夜。
4 我躺在床上，想着何时起来。
长夜漫漫，我辗转难眠，直到拂晓。
5 我身上布满蛆虫、伤疤，
皮肤破裂，流脓不止。
6 我的年日飞逝，比梭还快，
转眼结束，毫无盼望。
7 “上帝啊，别忘了我的生命不过是一口气，
我再也看不见幸福。
8 注视我的眼睛将再也看不见我，
你将寻找我，而我已不复存在。
9 人死后一去不返，
就像烟消云散；
10 他永不再返回家园，
故土也不再认识他。
11 “因此我不再缄默不语，
我要吐露胸中的悲愁，
倾诉心里的苦楚。
12 上帝啊，我岂是大海，岂是海怪，
值得你这样防范我？
13 我以为床铺是我的安慰，
卧榻可解除我的哀愁，
14 你却用噩梦惊我，
用异象吓我，
15 以致我宁愿窒息而死，
也不愿这样活着。
16 我厌恶生命，不想永活。
不要管我，因为我的日子都是虚空。
17 “人算什么，你竟这样看重他，
这样关注他？
18 你天天早上察看他，
时时刻刻考验他。
19 你的视线何时离开我，
给我咽口唾沫的时间？
20 鉴察世人的主啊，
我若犯了罪，又于你何妨？
为何把我当成你的箭靶？
难道我成了你的重担？
21 为何不赦免我的过犯，
饶恕我的罪恶？
我很快将归于尘土，
你将寻找我，
而我已不复存在。”
Job 7
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 7
A Life of Exhausting Service[a]
1 “Is not man’s life on earth an exhausting one,
and are not his days like those of a hired laborer?
2 Like a slave who sighs for the evening shade
and like a laborer who is bent upon his wages,
3 so have I been forced to endure months of futility,
and nights of grief have been inflicted on me.
4 “When I lie in bed, I wonder,
‘When will the daylight come so that I may rise?’
But the night drags on,
and I toss restlessly until the dawn.
5 My body is infected with worms and scabs;
my skin is cracked and festering.
My Life Is But a Breath[b]
6 “My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without a glimmer of hope.
7 “Remember that my life is but a breath of wind;
my eyes will never again see happiness.
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no more;
I will vanish before your very eyes.
9 As a cloud vanishes and is no more,
so the one who descends to the netherworld[c] will never come up again.
10 He will never again return to his home,
nor will he be remembered anymore.
11 “Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak out in my anguish of spirit,
and I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a monster of the deep, or a sea serpent,
that you place me under guard?[d]
13 When I say, ‘I will find comfort in my bed,
and my couch will soothe my complaints,’
14 you then frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would prefer to be strangled
and to endure death rather than my sufferings.
16 My life is ebbing away; I cannot live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
A Continual Testing[e]
17 “What is man, that you make so much of him
or pay him any mind?
18 You examine him every morning
and test him every moment of the day.
19 “Will you never take your eyes from me,
or let me alone long enough to swallow my saliva?
20 If I have sinned, what harm have I done to you,
O watcher of humanity?
Why have you designated me to be your target?
Why have I become a burden to you?[f]
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my iniquity?
For soon I will lie down in the dust;
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”
Footnotes
- Job 7:1 The lot of the sick seems to be one of exhausting service comprising interminable days and nights of suffering.
- Job 7:6 Regret for the happiness that has vanished too soon and fear of the netherworld haunt the sick man. He feels that he is, so to speak, hunted by God.
- Job 7:9 Netherworld: this is the first explicit allusion to the great subterranean pit where the dead are gathered together. Job speaks of it according to the opinion in his day. It is no longer the sojourn of repose (Job 3:13-19), but a place from which one “will never again return,” or where one is separated from his home, his family, and even his God.
- Job 7:12 This is a very poetic and Semitic way of representing the dominion of God over the forces of the universe.
- Job 7:17 Unlike the psalmist (Pss 8:5; 139:13-14, 23-24), Job cannot rejoice at the special attention God pays to human beings. This divine scrutiny shakes his conviction of innocence.
- Job 7:20 Burden to you: many Hebrew manuscripts have: “burden to myself.”
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
