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.”
约伯记 7
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
人生在世多有愁苦
7 “人在世上怎能沒有勞役呢？
他的日子不像雇工的日子嗎？
2 正如僕人切慕暮影，
又像雇工盼望工價。
3 照樣，我有空虛的歲月，
也有勞苦的黑夜為我派定。
4 我躺下的時候，就說：
‘我甚麼時候起來？’
然而，長夜漫漫，我輾轉反側，直到黎明。
5 我的肉體以蟲子和土塊為衣裳，
我的皮膚裂開又流膿。
6 我過的日子比梭還要快，
在毫無盼望之中而結束。
7 求你記念我的性命不過是一口氣，
我的眼必不再看見福樂。
8 看我的，他的眼再也看不到我，
你的眼要看我，我已經不在了。
9 雲彩怎樣消散逝去，
照樣，人下陰間也不再上來。
10 他不再回自己的家，
故鄉再也不認識他。
11 因此，我不再禁止我的口，
我要說出靈裡的憂愁，
傾訴心中的痛苦。
埋怨 神待他過嚴
12 我豈是海洋或是海怪，
你竟然設守衛防備我？
13 我若說：‘我的床必安慰我，
我的榻必減輕我的苦情’，
14 你就用夢驚擾我，
又用異象驚嚇我，
15 以致我寧可窒息而死，
也不肯保留我這一身的骨頭。
16 我厭惡自己，不願永遠活下去。
任憑我吧，因為我的日子都是空虛的。
17 人算甚麼，你竟看他為大，
又把他放在心上；
18 每天早晨你都鑒察他，
每時每刻你也試驗他。
19 你到甚麼時候才轉眼不看我，
任憑我咽下唾沫呢？
20 鑒察世人的主啊！
我若犯了罪，跟你有甚麼關係呢？
你為甚麼把我當作箭靶，
使我以自己為重擔呢？
21 你為甚麼不赦免我的過犯，
除去我的罪孽呢？
現在我快要躺臥在塵土中，
那時你尋找我，我卻不在了。”
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
