1 "I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.

3 Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

5 Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man,

6 that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin —

7 though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

8 "Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?

9 Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?

10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,

11 clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?

12 You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

13 "But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind:

14 If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.

15 If I am guilty —woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in "my affliction.

16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.

17 You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.

18 "Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

19 If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

20 Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy

21 before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness,

22 to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness."

1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint on myself; 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 to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and shine on the counsel of the wicked?

4 Have you eyes of flesh? or see you as man sees?

5 Are your days as the days of man? are your years as man' days,

6 That you enquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

7 You know that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of your hand.

8 Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet you do destroy me.

9 Remember, I beseech you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again?

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 fenced me with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and favor, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13 And these things have you hid in your heart: I know that this is with you.

14 If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15 If I be wicked, woe to me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see you my affliction;

16 For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvelous on me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me; changes and war are against me.

18 Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that 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 from where I shall 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 darkness.