The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 "Human life is a struggle, isn't it? It's a life sentence to hard labor.
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“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?
2 Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
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Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
3 I'm given a life that meanders and goes nowhere - months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
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so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 I go to bed and think, 'How long till I can get up?' I toss and turn as the night drags on - and I'm fed up!
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When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise? ’But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5 I'm covered with maggots and scabs. My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
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My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
6 My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles, and then the yarn runs out - an unfinished life!
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My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope.
7 "God, don't forget that I'm only a puff of air! These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
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“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.
8 And your eyes have seen the last of me; even while you're looking, there'll be nothing left to look at.
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The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
9 When a cloud evaporates, it's gone for good; those who go to the grave never come back.
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As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 They don't return to visit their families; never again will friends drop in for coffee.
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he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.
11 "And so I'm not keeping one bit of this quiet, I'm laying it all out on the table; my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
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“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Are you going to put a muzzle on me, the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
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Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
13 If I say, 'I'm going to bed, then I'll feel better. A little nap will lift my spirits,'
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When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, ’
14 You come and so scare me with nightmares and frighten me with ghosts
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then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 That I'd rather strangle in the bedclothes than face this kind of life any longer.
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so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
16 I hate this life! Who needs any more of this? Let me alone! There's nothing to my life - it's nothing but smoke.
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I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
17 "What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them, that you even give them the time of day?
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What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,
18 That you check up on them every morning, looking in on them to see how they're doing?
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visit him every morning and test him every moment?
19 Let up on me, will you? Can't you even let me spit in peace?
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How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20 Even suppose I'd sinned - how would that hurt you? You're responsible for every human being. Don't you have better things to do than pick on me? Why make a federal case out of me?
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If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why don't you just forgive my sins and start me off with a clean slate? The way things are going, I'll soon be dead. You'll look high and low, but I won't be around."
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Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be. ”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025