| 1 | Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? |
| 2 | As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow, And as a hireling that looketh for his wages: |
| 3 | So am I made to possess months of misery, And wearisome nights are appointed to me. |
| 4 | When I lie down, 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. |
| 5 | My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; My skin closeth up, and breaketh out afresh. |
| 6 | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And are spent without hope. |
| 7 | Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good. |
| 8 | The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be. |
| 9 | As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more. |
| 10 | He shall return no more to his house, Neither shall his place know him any more. |
| 11 | Therefore I will not refrain 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, And death rather than [these] my bones. |
| 16 | I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity. |
| 17 | What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him, |
| 18 | And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, And try him every moment? |
| 19 | How long wilt thou not look away from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? |
| 20 | If I have sinned, what do I unto thee, O thou watcher of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, So that I am a burden to myself? |
| 21 | And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be. |