Paraphrase on the Book of Job, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
1. FOr I doe but aske you this1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his daies also like the daies of an hireling? question; Is not death appointed by God to every man, and whilest hee lives here, does not he spinne out his life in toile and trouble like a hireling?
2. Now then, as it is naturall for a2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his worke. servant (nor can you blame him for it) being toiled out with the labour and heat of the day to desire earnestly the approach of the night to give him ease and refreshing, and as it is common with every poore labouring man to long for the end of his worke, that he may receive his reward and freedome from his toile.
3. Even so is the case with me, and3. So am I made to possesse moneths of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. worse; for whereas their toile is measured by the day, my misery is incessant, measured by whole moneths, and that without so much as the intermission of nights.
4. For night and day are alike toilsome4. When I lie downe, 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. to me, in so much that I can take no rest, nor finde no ease, but so soone as ever I dispose my selfe to sleepe, my easelesse mind presently growes weary and restlesse, longing for day that the night were over, which is full of nothing but disquiet and continuall tossings to and fro quite throughout.
5. And you your selves cannot but5. My flesh is clothed with wormes and clods of dust, my skin is broken, and become loathsome. see in what miserable estate I am, beyond all compare; for it is apparant how that my body, even now, whilest I am alive, is overrunne with wormes, and as with a garment am I covered over with scabbie clods of dirt and dust congealed in ulcerous matter which issueth from my sores, which together with my skin is chopped and broken (as the earth in drought) in most lothsome and formidable manner.
6. Why then should not I desire an6. My daies are swifter than a weavers shuttle, and are spent without hope. end, seeing my miseries crave it, and every thing tendeth toward it; for you see evidently how all my former daies of prosperity are in a moment quite dispatched, and those that remaine, you see them also waste without all hope of ever being better.
7. Consider therefore these two7. O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. things: to wit, The extraordinary end that my former daies have received, how like a puffe of wind they are suddenly blowne over, and that withall I am never like to see more good in this life.
8. Hee that hath seene mee in my8. The eye of him that hath seene mee shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon mee, and I am not. prosperity, shall never see mee so againe, thou thy selfe seest how irreparable my state is; so that I have reason to expect and looke for no other than an absolute conclusion.
9. For as the cloud is consumed by9. As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away: so hee that goeth downe to the grave, shall come up no more. degrees till it vanish quite away, so he that is going by degrees toward his grave, as I am, must needs looke for no recovery but necessarily expect a finall determination.
10. Which shall certainly conclude10. Hee shall returne no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. him never to enjoy any part of his former condition againe.
11. Seeing therefore that death by11. Therefore I will not refraine my mouth, I will speake in the anguish of my spirit, I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule. Gods appointment must certainly be the end of these, I will not spare to presse him to hasten it, but will lay my misery open to the uttermost, and by all the arguments I can use, will seeke to obtaine it speedily.
12. Am I of so robustuous and untamable12. Am I a Sea, or a Whale, that thou settest a watch over me? a disposition, that thou must needs hold me in with such sharpe and mighty afflictions?
13. In so much that when I dispose13. When, I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint: my selfe to sleepe in hope to find some ease, and to gaine some small intermission of my torment:
14. Even then thou disappointst my14. Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest mee through visions. hope, interrupting my sleepe with frightfull dreames and visions, letting me take no rest.
15. So that if I might be mine own15. So that my soule chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. carver, I would choose the very worst of deaths, so that I might but be sure to die rather than to live any longer in these intollerable pressures.
16. Which makes life (how pleasing16. I loath it, I would not live alwaies: let me alone, for my daies are vanity. soever to others) to be most irkesome to mee, in so much as though other men could be content to live alwaies, yet am I of a quite differing mind, wishing rather not to live at all: and therefore I pray thee, O Lord, prolong not my life, but give way to my miseries to make an end of mee, seeing that all the remainder of my life must needes be empty of content and full of vexation.
17. Lord what is man? is he any17. What is man, that thou shouldest magnifie him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? better than a thing of naught, which thou thus seemest to esteeme and make such account of?
18. Exercising a continuall providence18. And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment. over him for his daily preservation, not suffering him rather to turne to dust, as else hee would, and exercising him under long and lingring afflictions, not dispatching him at once, as if thou wouldst, thou couldst?
19. How long wilt thou hold on19. How long wilt thou not depart from mee, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle. this extremity, affording me no release, not so much as a breathing while, or whilest I might swallow my spittle?
20. Wouldst thou by these tortures20. I have sinned, what shall I doe unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a marke against thee, so that I am a burthen to my selfe? racke the confession of my sinnes out of me? I confesse Lord, I am a sinner, but alas, what recompence can I make thy justice by my suffering? it is not in me to expiate my owne sinne; it is thy mercy onelyonly must save and acquit me, for thou art the one Saviour, why then doest thou, as it were, try thy skill and power upon mee in my exquisite torments, so that I am become a very burthen to my selfe.
21. And dost not rather according21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleepe in the dust, and thou shalt seeke mee in the morning, but I shall not be. to thy gracious nature give some comfortable and refreshing testimonies of the pardon of my transgressions, and the doing away of mine iniquities, that so I may praise thee before the Sunne of my life be quite set, and I lie downe in the grave; for now I shall die, and then when thou lookest to receive thy morning sacrifice of praise, as aforetime, I shall not be found to give it thee.