| 1 | Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling? |
| 2 | As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages, |
| 3 | So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. |
| 4 | If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn. |
| 5 | My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates. |
| 6 | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. |
| 7 | Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good. |
| 8 | The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no [more]: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. |
| 9 | The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up. |
| 10 | He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again. |
| 11 | Therefore I will not restrain my mouth: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 12 | Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me? |
| 13 | When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; |
| 14 | Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions; |
| 15 | So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones. |
| 16 | I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath. |
| 17 | What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him? |
| 18 | And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment? |
| 19 | How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? |
| 20 | Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself? |
| 21 | And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be. |
