7
1 Does not man have hard labor on earth?
Are not his days like the days of a hired man?
2 Like a slave earnestly desires the shadows of evening,
like a hired man looks for his wages—
3 so I have been made to endure months of misery;
I have been given trouble-filled nights.
4 When I lie down, I say to myself,
'When will I get up and when will the night be gone?'
I am full of tossing to and fro until the day's dawning.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
the sores in my skin harden up and then dissolve and run afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;
they pass without hope.
7 God, call to mind that my life is only a breath;
my eye will no more see good.
8 The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more;
God's eyes will be on me, but I will not exist.
9 As a 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 again.
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.
12 Am I the sea or a sea monster
that you place a guard over me?
13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,'
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me through visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than preserving these bones of mine.
16 I loathe my life; I would not wish to always be alive;
let me alone for my days are useless.
17 What is man that you should pay attention to him,
that you should set your mind on him,
18 that you should observe him every morning
and test him every moment?
19 How long will it be before you look away from me,
before you let me alone long enough for me to swallow down my own saliva?
20 Even if I have sinned, what would that do to you, you who watch men?
Why have you made a target of me,
so that I am a burden for you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?
For now will I lie down in the dust;
you will seek me carefully, but I will not exist.”