Job 7
7
1“People have a hard task on earth,
and their days are like those of a laborer.
2They are like a slave wishing for the evening shadows,
like a laborer waiting to be paid.
3But I am given months that are empty,
and nights of misery have been given to me.
4When I lie down, I think, ‘How long until I get up?’
The night is long, and I toss until dawn.
5My body is covered with worms and scabs,
and my skin is broken and full of sores.
6“My days go by faster than a weaver’s tool,
and they come to an end without hope.
7Remember, God, that my life is only a breath.
My eyes will never see happy times again.
8Those who see me now will see me no more;
you will look for me, but I will be gone.
9As a cloud disappears and is gone,
people go to the grave and never return.
10They will never come back to their houses again,
and their places will not know them anymore.
11“So I will not stay quiet;
I will speak out in the suffering of my spirit.
I will complain because I am so unhappy.
12I am not the sea or the sea monster.
So why have you set a guard over me?
13Sometimes I think my bed will comfort me
or that my couch will stop my complaint.
14Then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions.
15My throat prefers to be choked;
my bones welcome death.
16I hate my life; I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.
17“Why do you make people so important
and give them so much attention?
18You examine them every morning
and test them every moment.
19Will you never look away from me
or leave me alone even long enough to swallow?
20If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you watcher of humans?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a heavy load for you?
21Why don’t you pardon my wrongs
and forgive my sins?
I will soon lie down in the dust of death.
Then you will search for me, but I will be no more.”
Currently Selected:
Job 7: NCV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Job 7
7
There’s Nothing to My Life
1-6“Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
7-10“God, don’t forget that I’m only a wisp of air!
These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it’s gone for good;
those who go to the grave never come back.
They don’t return to visit their families;
never again will friends drop in for coffee.
11-16“And so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet,
I’m laying it all out on the table;
my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, ‘I’m going to bed, then I’ll feel better.
A little nap will lift my spirits,’
You come and so scare me with nightmares
and frighten me with ghosts
That I’d rather strangle in the sheets
than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
Let me alone! There’s nothing to my life—it’s nothing
but smoke.
17-21“What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
looking in on them to see how they’re doing?
Let up on me, will you?
Can’t you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I’d sinned—how would that hurt you?
You’re responsible for every human being.
Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?
Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don’t you just forgive my sins
and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead.
You’ll look high and low, but I won’t be around.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.