1 “ My soul loathes my life; I will give free course 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 the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked?

4 D o You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees?

5 A re Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,

6 T hat You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin,

7 A lthough You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

8 ‘ Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me.

9 R emember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?

10 D id You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese,

11 C lothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews?

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

13 ‘ And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You:

14 I f I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity.

15 I f I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!

16 I f my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me.

17 Y ou renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me.

18 ‘ Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

19 I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 A re not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,

21 B efore I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

22 A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’”