| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1"I am disgusted with living, so I'm going to talk about my complaint freely. I'll speak out from the bitterness of my soul. | 1I am disgusted with my life. I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I'll say to God, 'Don't condemn me! Let me know why you are fighting me. | 2I will say to God: "Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why You prosecute me. |
| 3Does it delight you to oppress or despise what you have made, while you smile at the plans of the wicked? | 3Is it good for You to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked? |
| 4Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do? | 4Do You have eyes of flesh, or do You see as a human sees? |
| 5Can you live only as long as a human being? Or live the years of a mortal man? | 5Are Your days like those of a human, or Your years like those of a man, |
| 6"'For you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin. | 6that You look for my wrongdoing and search for my sin, |
| 7Although you know that I'm not guilty, there's no one to deliver me from you! | 7even though You know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? |
| 8Your hands formed and fashioned me, but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides. | 8"Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will You now turn and destroy me? |
| 9"'Please remember that you've made me like clay and you'll return me to dust. | 9Please remember that You formed me like clay. Will You now return me to dust? |
| 10Didn't you pour me out like milk and let me congeal like cheese? | 10Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? |
| 11You covered me with skin and flesh, weaving me together with bones and sinews. | 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons. |
| 12You gave life and gracious love to me; your providential care has preserved my spirit. | 12You gave me life and faithful love, and Your care has guarded my life. |
| 13But you've hidden these things in your heart— I know this was your purpose: | 13"Yet You concealed these thoughts in Your heart; I know that this was Your hidden plan: |
| 14If I sin, you watch me and won't acquit me for my iniquity. | 14if I sin, You would notice, and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing. |
| 15"'Woe to me if I'm guilty! If I'm innocent, I cannot lift my head, because I am filled with disgrace. Look at my affliction! | 15If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and aware of my affliction. |
| 16But if I do lift up my head, you will hunt me like a lion! You will perform miracles in order to fight against me. | 16If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion and again display Your miraculous power against me. |
| 17"'You have brought new witnesses against me, you're even more angry with me— you've brought fresh troops to attack me! | 17You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave. |
| 18So why did you bring me out from the womb? I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me, | 18"Why did You bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen. |
| 19as if I had never existed; carried from the womb to the grave. | 19I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave. |
| 20My days are so few, aren't they? So leave me alone, then, so I can smile a little | 20Are my days not few? Stop it! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little |
| 21before I go, never to return, leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow. | 21before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return. |
| 22It's a gloomy land, like deepest darkness; where there's no order, and where even the brightness is like darkness.'" | 22It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness." |
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