1 I am weary of my life and loathe it! I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me! Show me why You contend with me.

3 D oes it seem good to You that You should oppress, that You should despise and reject the work of Your hands, and favor the schemes of the wicked?

4 H ave You eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?

5 A re Your days as the days of man, are Your years as man’s,

6 T hat You inquire after my iniquity and search for my sin—

7 A lthough You know that I am not wicked or guilty and that there is none who can deliver me out of Your hand?

8 Y our hands have formed me and made me. Would You turn around and destroy me?

9 R emember, I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay. And will You bring me into dust again?

10 H ave You not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese?

11 Y ou have clothed me with skin and flesh and have knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 Y ou have granted me life and favor, and Your providence has preserved my spirit.

13 Y et these have You hid in Your heart; I know that this was with You.

14 I f I sin, then You observe me, and You will not acquit me from my iniquity and guilt.

15 I f I am wicked, woe unto me! And if I am righteous, yet must I not lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and the sight of my affliction.

16 I f I lift myself up, You hunt me like a lion and again show Yourself marvelous upon me.

17 Y ou renew Your witnesses against me and increase Your indignation toward me; I am as if attacked by a troop time after time.

18 W hy then did You bring me forth out of the womb? Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

19 I should have been as though I had not existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 A re not my days few? Cease then and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort and cheer up

21 B efore I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

22 T he land of sunless gloom as intense darkness, of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as thick darkness.