Job 7-8

Easy-to-Read Version

7 “People have a hard struggle on earth.
    Their life is like that of a hired worker.
² They are like a slave looking for cool shade
    or a hired worker waiting for payday.
³ Month after frustrating month has gone by.
    I have suffered night after night.
⁴ When I lie down, I think,
    ‘How long before it’s time to get up?’
The night drags on.
    I toss and turn until the sun comes up.
⁵ My skin is covered with worms and scabs.
    It is cracked and covered with sores.

⁶ “My days pass by faster than a weaver’s shuttle,^[a]
    and my life will end without hope.
⁷ God, remember, my life is like a breath.
    I will not get a second chance to enjoy it.
⁸ Those who see me now will never see me again.
    You watch me for a while, but then I am gone.
⁹ Just as clouds that come and go,
    people are put in the grave, never to rise again.
¹⁰ They don’t come back to their old homes.
    The people there would not know them.

¹¹ “So I will not be quiet!
    I will let my suffering spirit speak!
    I will let my bitter soul complain!
¹² Am I one of your enemies?
    Is that why you put a guard over me?^[b]
13 My bed should bring me comfort.
    My couch should give me rest and relief.
¹⁴ But when I lie down, you scare me with dreams;
    you frighten me with visions.
¹⁵ So I would rather be choked to death
    than to live like this.
¹⁶ I hate my life—I give up.
    I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone!
    My life means nothing.
¹⁷ God, why are people so important to you?
    Why do you even notice them?
¹⁸ Why do you visit them every morning
    and test them at every moment?
¹⁹ You never look away from me
    or leave me alone for a second.
²⁰ You are always watching us!
    If I sinned, would that hurt you?
Why have you made me your target?
    Have I become a problem for you?
²¹ Why don’t you just pardon me for doing wrong?
    Why don’t you just forgive me for my sins?
Soon I will die and be in my grave.
    You will search for me, but I will be gone.”

² “How long will you talk like that?
    Your words are nothing but hot air!
³ God is always fair.
    God All-Powerful does what is right.
⁴ If your children sinned against God, he punished them.
    They paid for their sins.
⁵ But now, look to God
    and pray to the All-Powerful.
⁶ If you are pure and good,
    he will quickly come to help you.
    He will give your family back to you.
⁷ Then you will have a lot more
    than you had in the beginning!

⁸ “Ask those who are now old.
    Find out what their ancestors learned.
⁹ It seems as though we were born yesterday.
    We are too young to know anything.
    Our days on earth are very short, like a shadow.
¹⁰ Maybe the old people can tell you something.
    Maybe they will teach you what they learned.

¹¹ “Can papyrus grow tall on a dry land?
    Can reeds grow without water?
¹² No, they will dry up before harvest.
    They will be too small to cut and use.
¹³ People who forget God are like that.
    Those who oppose him have no hope.
¹⁴ They have put their trust in something weak.
    It is like a spider’s web.
¹⁵ When they lean against it,
    it will break.
When they reach out for it,
    it will not hold them up.
¹⁶ Such people are like a vine that gets plenty of water and sunshine,
    and its branches spread throughout the garden.
¹⁷ Its roots spread among the rocks,
    searching for good soil.
¹⁸ But if you move it, it will die,
    and no one can tell it was ever there.
¹⁹ Everything might have been going well,
    but another vine will take its place.
²⁰ God does not support evil people,
    and he does not abandon the innocent.
²¹ So perhaps you might laugh again.
    Maybe shouts of joy will come from your lips.
²² Maybe your enemies will be humiliated
    and the homes of the wicked destroyed.”