1 “ I hate my life. I will be free in my complaining. I will show how bitter I am in my soul when I speak.

2 I will say to God, ‘Do not say that I am guilty and punish me. Let me know why You work against me.

3 D o You think it is right for You to make it hard for me, to turn away from the work of Your hands and favor the plans of the sinful?

4 D o You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as a man sees?

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

6 t hat You should look for my wrong-doing and my sin?

7 Y ou know that I am not guilty, yet there is no one who can take me away from Your hand.

8 ‘ Your hands put me together and made me, and now would You destroy me?

9 R emember that You have made me as clay. Would You turn me into dust again?

10 D id You not pour me out like milk and make me become hard like cheese?

11 Y ou have given me clothing of skin and flesh, and have tied me together with bones and cord.

12 Y ou have given me life and loving-kindness. Your care has kept my spirit alive.

13 Y et You have hidden these things in Your heart. I know that this is in Your thoughts.

14 I f I sin, You would see me, and would not free me from my guilt.

15 I f I am sinful, it would be bad for me! If I am right and good, I cannot lift my head for I am filled with shame and see all my trouble.

16 I f I would lift up my head, You would hunt me like a lion. Again You would show Your power against me.

17 Y ou would send new ones who would speak against me, and become more angry with me. You would send me more and more trouble.

18 ‘ Why then did You let me be born? If only I had died and no one had seen me!

19 I should have been as if I had never lived, carried from my mother to the grave.’

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

21 b efore I go to a place from which I will not return. I will go to the land of darkness and shadow.

22 I t is the land of complete darkness and shadow and trouble, where the light is darkness.”