The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 "Human life is a struggle, isn't it? It's a life sentence to hard labor.
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"Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't 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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As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, As a hireling 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 am I made to possess months of misery, Wearisome nights are appointed 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, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
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 clods of dust. My skin closes up, and 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 are spent 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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Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more 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 shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
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 is consumed and vanishes away, So he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.
10 They don't return to visit their families; never again will friends drop in for coffee.
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He shall return no more to his house, Neither shall his place know him any more.
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 keep silent. 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 a sea, or a sea-monster, That you put 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 shall comfort me, My couch shall ease my complaint;'
14 You come and so scare me with nightmares and frighten me with ghosts
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Then you scar me with dreams, And terrify me through visions:
15 That I'd rather strangle in the bedclothes than face this kind of life any longer.
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So that my soul chooses strangling, 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 don't want to live forever. Leave me alone; for my days are but 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 should magnify him, That you should set your mind 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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That you should 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 until I swallow down my spittle?
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 have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, So that I am a burden to myself?
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 disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."