[1] "Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man? [2] Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages, [3] thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me. [4] If I lie down, I say, 'When will I arise?' And the night stretches on and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns. [5] My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs; my skin is broken and festering. [6] My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope. [7] Remember that my life is but a breath, that my eyes will never again see happiness. [8] The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. [9] As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again. [10] He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him anymore. [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 the sea, or the creature of the deep, that you must put me under guard? [13] If I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,' [14] then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, [15] so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life. [16] I loathe it; I do not want to live forever; leave me alone, for my days are a vapor! [17] "What is mankind that you make so much of them, and that you pay attention to them? [18] And that you visit them every morning, and try them every moment? [19] Will you never look away from me, will you not let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle? [20] If I have sinned-what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to you? [21] And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will be gone."
