1 M y soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say unto +God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.

3 D oth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

4 H ast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

5 A re thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,

6 T hat thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;

7 S ince thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?

8 T hy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!

9 R emember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.

10 H ast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

11 T hou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;

12 T hou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;

13 A nd these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.

14 I f I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.

15 I f I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being full of shame, and beholding mine affliction;—

16 A nd it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.

17 T hou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions and a time of toil are with me.

18 A nd wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.

19 I should be as though I had not been; 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 revive a little,

21 B efore I go, and never to return,—to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

22 A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.