约伯记 7
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
人生在世多有愁苦
7 “人在世上怎能没有劳役呢？
他的日子不像雇工的日子吗？
2 正如仆人切慕暮影，
又像雇工盼望工价。
3 照样，我有空虚的岁月，
也有劳苦的黑夜为我派定。
4 我躺下的时候，就说：
‘我甚么时候起来？’
然而，长夜漫漫，我辗转反侧，直到黎明。
5 我的肉体以虫子和土块为衣裳，
我的皮肤裂开又流脓。
6 我过的日子比梭还要快，
在毫无盼望之中而结束。
7 求你记念我的性命不过是一口气，
我的眼必不再看见福乐。
8 看我的，他的眼再也看不到我，
你的眼要看我，我已经不在了。
9 云彩怎样消散逝去，
照样，人下阴间也不再上来。
10 他不再回自己的家，
故乡再也不认识他。
11 因此，我不再禁止我的口，
我要说出灵里的忧愁，
倾诉心中的痛苦。
埋怨 神待他过严
12 我岂是海洋或是海怪，
你竟然设守卫防备我？
13 我若说：‘我的床必安慰我，
我的榻必减轻我的苦情’，
14 你就用梦惊扰我，
又用异象惊吓我，
15 以致我宁可窒息而死，
也不肯保留我这一身的骨头。
16 我厌恶自己，不愿永远活下去。
任凭我吧，因为我的日子都是空虚的。
17 人算甚么，你竟看他为大，
又把他放在心上；
18 每天早晨你都鉴察他，
每时每刻你也试验他。
19 你到甚么时候才转眼不看我，
任凭我咽下唾沫呢？
20 鉴察世人的主啊！
我若犯了罪，跟你有甚么关系呢？
你为甚么把我当作箭靶，
使我以自己为重担呢？
21 你为甚么不赦免我的过犯，
除去我的罪孽呢？
现在我快要躺卧在尘土中，
那时你寻找我，我却不在了。”
Job 7
The Voice
7 Job: Don’t we humans struggle long and hard in our time on earth?
Don’t we live our lives as common laborers?
2 As slaves longing for shade,
as workers pining for wages,
3 So I am destined to receive only months of meaninglessness,
and nights of nothing but misery.
4 When I lie down at the end of day, I wonder,
“How soon till morning so I can arise?”
But the night stretches on,
and I toss and turn until sunrise.
5 My putrid skin is covered with maggots and a dirty crust.
It hardens and cracks and oozes again.
6 My days whisk by swifter than the shuttle in a weaver’s loom—
back and forth, and back and forth—
and then they come to their hopeless end.
7 My life, remember, is just a breath;
in death no more good will reach my eye.
8 Whoever sees me now, will not for long;
you’ll look for me, but I’ll be gone.
9 As clouds thin and finally vanish,
so it is when people enter the land of the dead.
Never will they come back up.
10 Never will they return to their homes
or will the place they lived recognize them anymore.
11 Like Eliphaz, I will not keep silent.
In the agony of my spirit, I will speak;
In the bitterness of my soul, I will complain.
12 Am I the raging sea, or the monster of the deep,
so threatening you must appoint a guard over me?
13 When I think my couch will comfort me
or my bed will soften my complaint,
14 You, Lord, intimidate me with dreams
and terrorize me with visions.
15 I’d rather be suffocated, even dead,
than live in these aching bones of mine.
Job compares his treatment to God’s defeat of two mythic enemies of creation: Yam and Tannin. Ancient Near Eastern legends say that before God created the world, the “formless void” that existed was called “the deep.” When God separated the heavens from the earth, He divided the formless void with the horizon, leaving the waters of the earth below (the oceans) and the waters of the heavens above (the blue skies and clouds). Yam the sea god and Tannin the sea monster tried to interfere in this separation. God of course defeated them, imprisoning them in the sea with sandbars. Job’s reference to this myth shows he believes God is treating him unfairly, punishing him as brutally as He did these subhuman, rebellious creatures. Job, on the other hand, has not been rebellious to God.
16 Job: I hate my life. I have no desire to keep on living.
Leave me alone, God, for I have only a short time left.
17 What are these human beings, that You make so much of them—
that You shower them with attention?
18 You examine them morning by morning;
You test them moment by moment.
19 How long will You stare at me?
I can’t even clear my throat of spit without an audience.
20 I have sinned. What have I done to You,
You who watch after humanity?
Why have You targeted me, a man whose life is just a breath?
Am I really such a heavy load for You?
21 So I’ve sinned inadvertently: can’t You pardon me?
Are my crimes such You can’t forgive my sins?
After all, I will lie in the dust, and it won’t be long
until You will look for me, but I’ll be gone.
Job 7
King James Version
7 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints;
14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.