Is there not a {Or, time of service}warfare to man upon earth?
And are not his days like the days of a hireling?
As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow,
And as a hireling that looketh for his wages:
So am I made to possess months of misery,
And wearisome nights are appointed to me.
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.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
My skin {Or, is broken and become loathsome}closeth up, and breaketh out afresh.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
And are spent without hope.
Oh remember that my life is a breath:
Mine eye shall no more see good.
The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more;
Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.
As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away,
So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more.
He shall return no more to his house,
Neither shall his place know him any more.
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.
Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,
That thou settest a watch over me?
When I say, My bed shall comfort me,
My couch shall ease my complaint;
Then thou scarest me with dreams,
And terrifiest me through visions:
So that my soul chooseth strangling,
And death rather than these my bones.
{Or, I waste away}I loathe my life; I {Or, shall}would not live alway:
Let me alone; for my days are {Or, as a breath}vanity.
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him,
And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,
And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,
And try him every moment?
How long wilt thou not look away from me,
Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
If I have sinned, what {Or, can I do}do I unto thee, O thou {Or, preserver}watcher of men?
Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee,
So that I am a burden to myself?
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.
Querverweise zu Hiob 7,20 Hiob 7,20
I shall be condemned;Why then do I labor in vain?
If I wash myself {Another reading is, with snow.}with snow water,And {Hebrew: cleanse my hands with lye.}make my hands never so clean;
Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,And mine own clothes shall abhor me.
Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,That thou settest a watch over me?
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.
For thou writest bitter things against me,And makest me to inherit the iniquities of my youth:
Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;Thy judgments are a great deep:O Jehovah, thou preservest man and beast.
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up:The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
For my sighing cometh {Or, like my food}before I eat,And my {Hebrew: roarings.}groanings are poured out like water.
But now thou numberest my steps:Dost thou not watch over my sin?
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:He hath also set me up for his mark.
His {Or, arrows Or, mighty ones}archers compass me round about;He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
He breaketh me with breach upon breach;He runneth upon me like a {Or, mighty man}giant.
Is not thy wickedness great?Neither is there any end to thine iniquities.
For thou wilt make them turn their back;Thou wilt make ready with thy bowstrings against their face.
If {Or, after the manner of men}like Adam I have covered my transgressions,By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
I am clean, without transgression;I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me:
He {Or, looketh upon men}singeth before men, and saith,I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,And {Or, it was nor requited unto me Or, it was not meet for me}it profited me not:
O Jehovah God of hosts,How long {Hebrew: wilt thou smoke. See Psalm 74:1}wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?