Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope
“Has not man aa hard service on earth,
and are not his bdays like the days of a hired hand?
2 Like a slave who longs for athe shadow,
and like ba hired hand who looks for his cwages,
3 so I am allotted months of aemptiness,
band nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 aWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
But the night is long,
and I toss and turn till the dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with aworms and bdirt;
my skin hardens, then cbreaks out afresh.
6 My days are aswifter than ba weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 “Remember that my life is a abreath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 aThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, bI shall be gone.
9 As athe cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who bgoes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 he areturns no more to his house,
nor does his bplace know him anymore.
11 “Therefore I will not arestrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will bcomplain in cthe bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or aa sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 aWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my abones.
16 I aloathe my life; I would not live forever.
bLeave me alone, for my days are ca breath.
17 aWhat is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 avisit him every morning
and btest him every moment?
19 How long will you not alook away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me ayour mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in athe earth;
you will bseek me, cbut I shall not be.”