1: "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand? 2: As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, As a hireling who looks for his wages, 3: So am I made to possess months of misery, Wearisome nights are appointed to me. 4: When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day. 5: My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks 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. My eye shall no more see good. 8: The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be. 9: As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, So he who goes 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 keep silent. 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 you put a guard over me? 13: When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me, My couch shall ease my complaint;' 14: Then you scar me with dreams, And terrify me through visions: 15: So that my soul chooses strangling, Death rather than my bones. 16: I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone; for my days are but a breath. 17: What is man, that you should magnify him, That you should set your mind on him, 18: That you should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? 19: How long will you not look away from me, Nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? 20: If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, So that I am a burden to myself? 21: Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."
