7
Job complains to God
1 “People need to work hard on this earth, like soldiers do;
all during the time that we are alive, we work hard [RHQ], like laborers/servants do.
2 We are like [SIM] slaves who keep wanting to be in the cool shade,
and we are like [SIM] workers who are waiting to be paid.
3 God has given me many months in which I think that it is useless to remain alive;
he has allotted/given to me many nights during which I feel miserable.
4 When I lie down at night I say, ‘How long will it be until I get up?’
But the nights are long, and I ◄toss/turn over and over► on my bed until the dawn.
5 My body is covered with maggots and scabs;
pus oozes out of my open sores.
6 My days pass as quickly as a weaver's ◄shuttle/stick that takes the thread back and forth►,
and they end without my confidently expecting that things will be better the next day.
7 God, do not forget that my life is as empty as a breath [MET];
I think that I [SYN] will never again experience being happy.
8 God, you [SYN] see me now,
but some day you will not see me any more.
You will search for me, but I will be gone because I will be dead.
9 Like [SIM] clouds ◄disperse/break up► and then disappear,
people die and descend to the place where dead people are, and they do not return;
10 they never return to their houses,
and people among whom they lived do not remember them any more.
11 So, I will not be silent;
while I am suffering I will speak;
I will complain to God about what has happened to me
because I [SYN] am very angry.
12 God, why do you watch closely what I am doing?
Do you think that I am a dangerous sea monster?
13 When I lie down at night, I say to myself, ‘I will be comforted here on my bed;
my pain will be less while I am sleeping.’
14 But then you give me dreams that cause me to be afraid;
you give me visions that terrify me,
15 with the result that I would prefer to die because of being strangled
than to continue to be alive being only a bunch of bones.
16 I detest continuing to be alive; I do not want to live for many years [HYP].
Allow me to be alone, because I will be alive for only a very short time [HYP].
17 We human beings are not very important;
so, why do you pay a lot of attention to us [DOU]?
18 You look at us every morning to see what we are doing,
and examine us every moment to see if we are doing what is right.
19 ◄When will you stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit?/Please stop looking at me and leave me alone for a little time, long enough to swallow my spit.► [RHQ]
20 Why do you watch me constantly?
If I sin, that certainly does not harm you!
Why have you set me up like a target to shoot at?
Do you consider me to be a heavy load that you are forced to carry?
21 If I have sinned, are you not able to forgive me for my sins
and the things that I have done that are wrong?
Soon I will lie in my grave;
you will search for me, but you will not find me because I will be dead and gone.”
Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.