約伯記 7
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
7 「人生在世豈不像服勞役嗎？
他有生之年豈不像個雇工嗎？
2 他像切望陰涼的奴隸，
又如盼望報酬的雇工。
3 同樣，我註定要度過虛空的歲月，
熬過悲慘的黑夜。
4 我躺在床上，想著何時起來。
長夜漫漫，我輾轉難眠，直到拂曉。
5 我身上佈滿蛆蟲、傷疤，
皮膚破裂，流膿不止。
6 我的年日飛逝，比梭還快，
轉眼結束，毫無盼望。
7 「上帝啊，別忘了我的生命不過是一口氣，
我再也看不見幸福。
8 注視我的眼睛將再也看不見我，
你將尋找我，而我已不復存在。
9 人死後一去不返，
就像煙消雲散；
10 他永不再返回家園，
故土也不再認識他。
11 「因此我不再緘默不語，
我要吐露胸中的悲愁，
傾訴心裡的苦楚。
12 上帝啊，我豈是大海，豈是海怪，
值得你這樣防範我？
13 我以為床鋪是我的安慰，
臥榻可解除我的哀愁，
14 你卻用噩夢驚我，
用異象嚇我，
15 以致我寧願窒息而死，
也不願這樣活著。
16 我厭惡生命，不想永活。
不要管我，因為我的日子都是虛空。
17 「人算什麼，你竟這樣看重他，
這樣關注他？
18 你天天早上察看他，
時時刻刻考驗他。
19 你的視線何時離開我，
給我嚥口唾沫的時間？
20 鑒察世人的主啊，
我若犯了罪，又於你何妨？
為何把我當成你的箭靶？
難道我成了你的重擔？
21 為何不赦免我的過犯，
饒恕我的罪惡？
我很快將歸於塵土，
你將尋找我，
而我已不復存在。」
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.”
