Job 7

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	NEW JERUSALEM
1 "Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling?	1 Is not human life on earth just conscript service? Do we not live a hireling's life?
2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages,	2 Like a slave, sighing for the shade, or a hireling with no thought but for his wages,
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.	3 I have months of futility assigned to me, nights of suffering to be my lot.
4 When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.	4 Lying in bed I wonder, 'When wil it be day?' No sooner up than, 'When wil evening come?' And crazythoughts obsess me til twilight fal s.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.	5 Vermin and loathsome scabs cover my body; my skin is cracked and oozes pus.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.	6 Swifter than a weaver's shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind.
7 "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.	7 Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.
8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while thy eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.	8 The eye that once saw me wil look on me no more, your eyes wil turn my way, and I shal not be there.
9 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;	9 A cloud dissolves and is gone, so no one who goes down to Sheol ever comes up again,
10 he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more.	10 ever comes home again, and his house knows that person no more.
11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.	11 That is why I cannot keep quiet: in my anguish of spirit I shal speak, in my bitterness of soul I shalcomplain.
12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that thou settest a guard over me?	12 Am I the Sea, or some sea monster, that you should keep me under guard?
13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'	13 If I say, 'My bed wil comfort me, my couch wil lighten my complaints,'
14 then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,	14 you then frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.	15 so that strangling would seem welcome in comparison, yes, death preferable to what I suffer.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.	16 I am wasting away, my life is not unending; leave me then, for my days are but a breath.
17 What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,	17 What are human beings that you should take them so seriously, subjecting them to your scrutiny,
18 dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?	18 that morning after morning you should examine them and at every instant test them?
19 How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?	19 Wil you never take your eyes off me long enough for me to swal ow my spittle?
20 If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?	20 Suppose I have sinned, what have I done to you, you tireless watcher of humanity? Why do youchoose me as your target? Why should I be a burden to you?
21 Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."	21 Can you not tolerate my sin, not overlook my fault? For soon I shal be lying in the dust, you wil lookfor me and I shal be no more.