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 Does 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 Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? |
5 Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, |
6 That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, |
7 Although 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 Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? |
10 Did you not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese, |
11 Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? |
12 You 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 If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. |
15 If 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 If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. |
17 You 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 Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, |
21 Before 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.'" |