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Human life is like forced army service,
    like a life of hard manual labor,
    like a slave longing for cool shade;
    like a worker waiting to be paid.
Month after month I have nothing to live for;
    night after night brings me grief.
When I lie down to sleep, the hours drag;
    I toss all night and long for dawn.

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“Do not mortals have hard service(A) on earth?(B)
    Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(C)
Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(D)
    or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(E)
so I have been allotted months of futility,
    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(F)
When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’(G)
    The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.(H)

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My days pass by without hope,
    pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.[a]

Remember, O God, my life is only a breath;
    my happiness has already ended.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 7:6 A small device in the loom which carries threads back and forth rapidly in weaving cloth.

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,(A)
    and they come to an end without hope.(B)
Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;(C)
    my eyes will never see happiness again.(D)

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