^{1 Ref} "My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

^{2 Ref} I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me, Show me why you contend with me.

^{3 Ref} Is it good to you that you should oppress, That you should despise the work of your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked?

^{4 Ref} Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?

^{5 Ref} Are your days as the days of mortals, Or your years as man's years,

^{6 Ref} That you inquire after my iniquity, And search after my sin?

^{7 Ref} Although you know that I am not wicked, There is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

^{8 Ref} 'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether; Yet you destroy me.

^{9 Ref} Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

^{10 Ref} Haven't you poured me out like milk, And curdled me like cheese?

^{11 Ref} You have clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews.

^{12 Ref} You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

^{13 Ref} Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

^{14 Ref} If I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

^{15 Ref} If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, Being filled with disgrace, And conscious of my affliction.

^{16 Ref} If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

^{17 Ref} You renew your witnesses against me, And increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

^{18 Ref} "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

^{19 Ref} I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

^{20 Ref} Aren't my days few? Cease then, Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

^{21 Ref} Before I go where I shall not return from, To the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

^{22 Ref} The land dark as midnight, Of the shadow of death, without any order, Where the light is as midnight.'"

^{1 Ref} My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.

^{2 Ref} I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

^{3 Ref} What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

^{4 Ref} Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?

^{5 Ref} Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,

^{6 Ref} That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,

^{7 Ref} Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?

^{8 Ref} Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.

^{9 Ref} O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?

^{10 Ref} Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?

^{11 Ref} By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.

^{12 Ref} You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.

^{13 Ref} But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

^{14 Ref} That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:

^{15 Ref} That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.

^{16 Ref} And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:

^{17 Ref} That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.

^{18 Ref} Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

^{19 Ref} And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.

^{20 Ref} Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,

^{21 Ref} Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,

^{22 Ref} A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

^{1 Ref} My soul hath been weary of my life, I leave off my talking to myself, I speak in the bitterness of my soul.

^{2 Ref} I say unto God, `Do not condemn me, Let me know why Thou dost strive `with' me.

^{3 Ref} Is it good for Thee that Thou dost oppress? That Thou despisest the labour of Thy hands, And on the counsel of the wicked hast shone?

^{4 Ref} Eyes of flesh hast Thou? As man seeth -- seest Thou?

^{5 Ref} As the days of man `are' Thy days? Thy years as the days of a man?

^{6 Ref} That Thou inquirest for mine iniquity, And for my sin seekest?

^{7 Ref} For Thou knowest that I am not wicked, And there is no deliverer from Thy hand.

^{8 Ref} Thy hands have taken pains about me, And they make me together round about, And Thou swallowest me up!

^{9 Ref} Remember, I pray Thee, That as clay Thou hast made me, And unto dust Thou dost bring me back.

^{10 Ref} Dost Thou not as milk pour me out? And as cheese curdle me?

^{11 Ref} Skin and flesh Thou dost put on me, And with bones and sinews dost fence me.

^{12 Ref} Life and kindness Thou hast done with me. And Thy inspection hath preserved my spirit.

^{13 Ref} And these Thou hast laid up in Thy heart, I have known that this `is' with Thee.

^{14 Ref} If I sinned, then Thou hast observed me, And from mine iniquity dost not acquit me,

^{15 Ref} If I have done wickedly -- wo to me, And righteously -- I lift not up my head, Full of shame -- then see my affliction,

^{16 Ref} And it riseth -- as a lion Thou huntest me. And Thou turnest back -- Thou shewest Thyself wonderful in me.

^{17 Ref} Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me, And dost multiply Thine anger with me, Changes and warfare `are' with me.

^{18 Ref} And why from the womb Hast Thou brought me forth? I expire, and the eye doth not see me.

^{19 Ref} As I had not been, I am, From the belly to the grave I am brought,

^{20 Ref} Are not my days few? Cease then, and put from me, And I brighten up a little,

^{21 Ref} Before I go, and return not, Unto a land of darkness and death-shade,

^{22 Ref} A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade -- and no order, And the shining `is' as thick darkness.'