[1] “I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
[2] I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
[3] Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
[4] Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
[5] Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,
[6] that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
[7] though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
[8] Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
[9] Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
[10] Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
[11] You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
[12] You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
[13] Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:
[14] If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
[15] If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
[16] Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
[17] You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
[18] Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
[19] If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
[20] Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
[21] before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom,
[22] to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”