1: Hath not man a life of labour upon earth? and are not his days like the days of a hireling? 2: As a bondman earnestly desireth the shadow, and a hireling expecteth his wages, 3: So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 4: If I lie down, I say, When shall I rise up, and the darkness be gone? and I am full of tossings until the dawn. 5: My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and suppurates. 6: My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. 7: Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good. 8: The eye of him that hath seen me shall behold me no [more]: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9: The cloud consumeth and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up. 10: He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him again. 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 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, death, rather than my bones. 16: I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath. 17: What is man, that thou makest much of him? and that thou settest thy heart upon him? 18: And that thou visitest him every morning, triest him every moment? 19: How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? 20: Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself? 21: And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.