“Do not mortals have hard service(A) on earth?(B)
    Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(C)
Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(D)
    or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(E)
so I have been allotted months of futility,
    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(F)
When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’(G)
    The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.(H)
My body is clothed with worms(I) and scabs,
    my skin is broken and festering.(J)

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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