7:1 Is there not a time of service to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?
7:2 As a servant that eagerly longeth for the shadow, and as a hireling that looketh for his wages;
7:3 So am I made to possess--months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
7:4 When I lie down, I say: 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin closeth up and breaketh out afresh.
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7:7 O remember that my life is a breath; mine eye shall no more see good.
7:8 The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; while Thine eyes are upon me, I am gone.
7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
7:11 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.
7:12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that Thou settest a watch over me?
7:13 When I say: 'My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint';
7:14 Then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions;
7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than these my bones.
7:16 I loathe it; I shall not live alway; let me alone; for my days are vanity.
7:17 What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thy heart upon him,
7:18 And that Thou shouldest remember him every morning, and try him every moment?
7:19 How long wilt Thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
7:20 If I have sinned, what do I unto Thee, O Thou watcher of men? Why hast Thou set me as a mark for Thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
7:21 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, but I shall not be.