Job
Chapter 7
Job is still answering Eliphaz, but he speaks mostly to God. He compares life on earth to the grinding work of a hired laborer, and describes his own sores, sleepless nights, and terrifying dreams. He says a person who dies does not come back, so he refuses to stay quiet: he asks why God watches him so closely and will not leave him alone, and he asks to be forgiven before he is gone.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
1Doesn't every person have hard work to do on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired worker?
2As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
2A slave longs for the shade at the end of the day. A hired worker waits to be paid.
3So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
3That is how it is for me. I am given months that mean nothing, and nights of misery are handed to me.
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.
4When I lie down, I ask, "When will I get up?" The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
5My body is covered with worms and crusted dirt. My skin cracks open and oozes.
6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
6My days rush past faster than a weaver's shuttle. They run out, and no hope is left.
A weaver's shuttle is the tool that carries thread back and forth across a loom. It moves very fast.
7O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
7Remember that my life is only a breath. My eyes will never see anything good again.
8The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
8The eye that sees me now will soon not see me. You will look for me, and I will be gone.
9As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
9A cloud thins out and disappears. In the same way, a person who goes down to the place of the dead does not come back up.
10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
10He never returns to his house. The place where he lived does not know him anymore.
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.
11So I will not hold my tongue. I will speak out of my pain. I will complain out of my bitter heart.
12Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
12Am I the sea, or a monster of the deep? Why do you post a guard over me?
The KJV word "whale" here means a huge monster of the sea, not the animal we call a whale today.
13When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
13I tell myself, "My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my complaining."
14Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
14But then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions in the night.
15So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
15So I would rather be choked to death than keep living in this body.
16I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
16I hate my life. I do not want to live on and on. Leave me alone, for my days mean nothing.
17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
17What is a human being, that you make so much of him? Why do you set your heart on him?
18And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
18Why do you check on him every morning and test him every moment?
19How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
19Will you never look away from me? Will you not leave me alone long enough to swallow my spit?
"Till I swallow down my spittle" is an old way of saying "for even a second."
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?
20If I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of people? Why have you made me your target? I am a burden to myself.
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.
21Why not forgive the wrong I have done and take my guilt away? Soon I will lie down in the dust. You will look for me, but I will be gone.
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