English / ERV
Job 7
Easy-to-Read Version, 2006
- 1“People have a hard struggle on earth. Their life is like that of a hired worker.
- 2They are like a slave looking for cool shade or a hired worker waiting for payday.
- 3Month after frustrating month has gone by. I have suffered night after night.
- 4When 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.
- 5My 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,[1] and my life will end without hope.
- 7God, remember, my life is like a breath. I will not get a second chance to enjoy it.
- 8Those who see me now will never see me again. You watch me for a while, but then I am gone.
- 9Just as clouds that come and go, people are put in the grave, never to rise again.
- 10They 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!
- 12Am I one of your enemies? Is that why you put a guard over me?[2]
- 13My bed should bring me comfort. My couch should give me rest and relief.
- 14But when I lie down, you scare me with dreams; you frighten me with visions.
- 15So I would rather be choked to death than to live like this.