[1] 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] I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
[3] Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
[4] Hast thou eyes of flesh, or seest thou as man seeth?
[5] Are thy days as the days of man, or thy years as man’s days,
[6] That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin,
[7] Although thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand?
[8] Thine hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
[9] Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
[10] Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
[11] Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
[12] Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
[13] Yet these things thou didst hide in thine heart; I know that this is with thee:
[14] If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
[15] If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head; being filled with ignominy and looking upon mine affliction.
[16] And if my head exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvelous upon me.
[17] Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and warfare are with me.
[18] Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
[19] I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
[20] Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
[21] Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
[22] A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.