[1] "Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? [2] Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, [3] so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. [4] When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I toss and turn till the dawn. [5] My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. [6] My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope. [7] "Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. [8] The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. [9] As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; [10] he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. [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 the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me? [13] When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,' [14] then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, [15] so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. [16] I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. [17] What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, [18] visit him every morning and test him every moment? [19] How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? [20] If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? [21] Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be."
