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)