[1] "My soul loathes my life; I will freely give my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. [2] I will say to God, Do not condemn me; show me why You contend with me. [3] Is it good for You that You should oppress, that You should despise the work of Your hands and smile on the counsel of the wicked? [4] Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? [5] Are Your days as the days of man? Are Your years as the days of a mortal, [6] that You inquire after my iniquity and search after my sin? [7] You know that I am not wicked, and there is none who can deliver out of Your hand. [8] "Your hands have shaped me and made me completely, yet You destroy me. [9] Remember, I pray, that You have made me as the clay. And would You return me to dust? [10] Have You not poured me out as milk and curdled me like cheese? [11] You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have knit me together with bones and sinews. [12] You have granted me life and loyal love, and Your care has preserved my spirit. [13] "These things You have hid in Your heart. I know that this is with You. [14] If I have sinned, then You would watch me, and You would not acquit me from my iniquity. [15] If I am wicked, woe unto me; and if I am righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of shame; look at my affliction! [16] For if my head is lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion, and again You show Yourself marvelous to me. [17] You renew Your witnesses against me and increase Your indignation upon me. Your troops come against me. [18] "Why then did You bring me forth out of the womb? Oh, that I had died, 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? Stop then, and leave me alone that I may cheer up a little, [21] before I go and do not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, [22] a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as thick darkness."
