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.
