Job 7, side by side

¹“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

¹Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

²Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

²As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:

³So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.

³So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

⁴When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

⁷O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.

⁸The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁸The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

¹⁰He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹¹Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard?

¹²Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

¹⁴then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁴Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

¹⁵So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁶I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

¹⁷What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

¹⁷What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

¹⁸that You attend to him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁸And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

¹⁹Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

¹⁹How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?

²⁰I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

²¹Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

²¹And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.