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

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

“Has not man (A)a hard service on earth,
    and are not his (B)days like the days of a hired hand?
Like a slave who longs for (C)the shadow,
    and like (D)a hired hand who looks for his (E)wages,
so I am allotted months of (F)emptiness,
    (G)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
(H)When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
My flesh is clothed with (I)worms and (J)dirt;
    my skin hardens, then (K)breaks out afresh.

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