Job 7 – read and compare multiple versions
Job 7
[1] “Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth?
Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
[2] As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,
as a hireling who looks for his wages,
[3] so I am made to possess months of misery,
wearisome nights are appointed to me.
[4] When I lie down, I say,
‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
[5] My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
[6] My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
[7] Oh remember that my life is a breath.
My eye will no more see good.
[8] The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.
Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
[9] As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.
[10] He will return no more to his house,
neither will his place know him any more. [11] “Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
[12] Am I a sea, or a sea monster,
that you put a guard over me?
[13] When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me.
My couch will ease my complaint,’
[14] then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me through visions,
[15] so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than my bones.
[16] I loathe my life.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
[17] What is man, that you should magnify him,
that you should set your mind on him,
[18] that you should visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
[19] How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
[20] If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you,
so that I am a burden to myself?
[21] Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now will I lie down in the dust.
You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”
Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
[2] As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,
as a hireling who looks for his wages,
[3] so I am made to possess months of misery,
wearisome nights are appointed to me.
[4] When I lie down, I say,
‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
[5] My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
[6] My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
[7] Oh remember that my life is a breath.
My eye will no more see good.
[8] The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.
Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
[9] As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.
[10] He will return no more to his house,
neither will his place know him any more. [11] “Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
[12] Am I a sea, or a sea monster,
that you put a guard over me?
[13] When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me.
My couch will ease my complaint,’
[14] then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me through visions,
[15] so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than my bones.
[16] I loathe my life.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
[17] What is man, that you should magnify him,
that you should set your mind on him,
[18] that you should visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
[19] How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
[20] If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you,
so that I am a burden to myself?
[21] Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now will I lie down in the dust.
You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”