The Book of Job. The Harvard Classics. 190914. |
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VII |
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[1] | IS there not a warfare 1 to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? |
[2] | As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow, And as a hireling that looketh for his wages: |
[3] | So am I made to possess months of misery, And wearisome nights are appointed to me. |
[4] | When 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. |
[5] | My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; My skin closeth 2 up, and breaketh out afresh. |
[6] | My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle, And are spent without hope. |
[7] | Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good. |
[8] | The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be. |
[9] | As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more. |
[10] | He shall return no more to his house, Neither shall his place know him any more. |
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[11] | Therefore I will not refrain my mouth: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. |
[12] | Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, That thou settest a watch over me? |
[13] | When I say, My bed shall comfort me, My couch shall ease my complaint; |
[14] | Then thou scarest me with dreams, And terrifiest me through visions: |
[15] | So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than these my bones. |
[16] | I 3 loathe my life; I would 4 not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity. 5 |
[17] | What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him, |
[18] | And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, And try him every moment? |
[19] | How long wilt thou not look away from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? |
[20] | If I have sinned, what do 6 I unto thee, O thou watcher 7 of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, So that I am a burden to myself? |
[21] | And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be. |
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