[1] Isn't each person consigned to forced labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired worker? [2] Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hired worker he waits for his pay. [3] So I have been made to inherit months of futility, and troubled nights have been assigned to me. [4] When I lie down I think, "When will I get up?" But the evening drags on endlessly, and I toss and turn until dawn. [5] My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt. My skin forms scabs and then oozes. [6] My days pass more swiftly than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope. [7] Remember that my life is but a breath. My eye will never again see anything good. [8] The eye of anyone who looks on me will no longer see me. Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. [9] As a cloud fades away and vanishes, so the one who goes down to Sheol will never rise again. [10] He will never return to his house; his hometown will no longer remember him. [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 the sea or a sea monster, that you keep me under guard? [13] When I say, "My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint," [14] then you frighten me with dreams, and terrify me with visions, [15] so that I prefer strangling - death rather than life in this body. [16] I give up! I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. [17] What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him? [18] You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment. [19] Will you ever look away from me, or leave me alone long enough to swallow? [20] If I have sinned, what have I done to you, Watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to you? [21] Why not forgive my sin and pardon my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the grave. You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.
