1"I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2"I will say to God, Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.

3Is it right for You indeed to oppress, To reject the labor of Your hands, And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked?

4Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You see as a man sees?

5Are Your days as the days of a mortal, Or Your years as man's years,

6That You should seek for my guilt And search after my sin?

7According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is no deliverance from Your hand.

8Your hands fashioned and made me altogether, And would You destroy me?

9Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again?

10Did You not pour me out like milk And curdle me like cheese;

11Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews?

12You have granted me life and lovingkindness; And Your care has preserved my spirit.

13Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart; I know that this is within You:

14If I sin, then You would take note of me, And would not acquit me of my guilt.

15If I am wicked, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. [I am] sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery.

16Should [my head] be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion; And again You would show Your power against me.

17You renew Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; Hardship after hardship is with me.

18Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!

19I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb to tomb.'

20"Would He not let my few days alone? Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

21Before I go-- and I shall not return-- To the land of darkness and deep shadow,

22The land of utter gloom as darkness [itself], Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness."