Job 7-8

Christian Standard Bible

7 Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor^(A) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired worker?
² Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired worker he waits for his pay.
³ So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.^(B)
4 When I lie down I think,
“When will I get up?”
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
⁵ My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.^[a]
My skin forms scabs^[b] and then oozes.^(C)

⁶ My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.^(D)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.^(E)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.^(F)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol^(G) will never rise again.
¹⁰ He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember^[c] him.^(H)

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I the sea^[d](I) or a sea monster,^(J)
that you keep me under guard?
¹³ When I say, “My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,”
¹⁴ then you frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,^(K)
15 so that I prefer strangling^[e]—
death rather than life in this body.^[f](L)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,^(M) for my days are a breath.^[g]

¹⁷ What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?^(N)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.^(O)
19 Will you ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?^[h]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
Watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,^(P)
so that I have become a burden to you?^[i]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my iniquity?^(Q)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.^(R)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.^(S)

⁸ For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,^(AB)
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.^(AC)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
¹¹ Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
¹² While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
¹³ Such is the destiny^[j] of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless^(AD) will perish.

¹⁴ His source of confidence is fragile;^[k]
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.^(AE)
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
¹⁶ He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
¹⁸ If he is uprooted^[l] from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”^(AF)
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
²⁰ Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and he will not support^[m] evildoers.^(AG)

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.^(AH)
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame;^(AI)
the tent^(AJ) of the wicked will no longer exist.