7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service 1 on earth?
Are not their days also
like the days of a hired man? 2
7:2 Like a servant 3 longing for the evening shadow, 4
and like a hired man looking 5 for his wages, 6
7:3 thus 7 I have been made to inherit 8
months of futility, 9
and nights of sorrow 10
have been appointed 11 to me.
7:4 If I lie down, I say, 12 ‘When will I arise?’,
and the night stretches on 13
and I toss and turn restlessly 14
until the day dawns.
7:5 My body 15 is clothed 16 with worms 17 and dirty scabs; 18
my skin is broken 19 and festering.
7:6 My days 20 are swifter 21 than a weaver’s shuttle 22
and they come to an end without hope. 23
7:7 Remember 24 that my life is but a breath,
that 25 my eyes will never again 26 see happiness.
7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; 27
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. 28
7:9 As 29 a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, 30
so the one who goes down to the grave 31
does not come up again. 32
7:10 He returns no more to his house,
nor does his place of residence 33 know him 34 any more.
7:11 “Therefore, 35 I will not refrain my mouth; 36
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain 37 in the bitterness of my soul.
7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, 38
that you must put 39 me under guard? 40
7:13 If 41 I say, 42 “My bed will comfort me, 43
my couch will ease 44 my complaint,”
7:14 then you scare me 45 with dreams
and terrify 46 me with 47 visions,
7:15 so that I 48 would prefer 49 strangling, 50
and 51 death 52 more 53 than life. 54
7:16 I loathe 55 it; 56 I do not want to live forever;
leave me alone, 57 for my days are a vapor! 58
7:17 “What is mankind 59 that you make so much of them, 60
and that you pay attention 61 to them?