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

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Footnotes

  1. 7:5 Or and dirty scabs
  2. 7:5 Lit skin hardens

The human condition

Isn’t slavery everyone’s condition on earth,
    our days like those of a hired worker?
        Like a slave we pant for a shadow,
            await our task like a hired worker.
So I have inherited months of emptiness;
    nights of toil have been measured out for me.
If I lie down and think—When will I get up?—
    night drags on,[a] and restless thoughts fill me until dawn.
My flesh is covered with worms and crusted earth;
    my skin hardens and oozes.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 7:4 Heb uncertain