1  “Has not man ^ra hard service on earth,

and are not his ^sdays like the days of a hired hand?

2  Like a slave who longs for ^tthe shadow,

and like ^ua hired hand who looks for his ^vwages,

3  so I am allotted months of ^wemptiness,

^xand nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4  ^yWhen I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long,

and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5  My flesh is clothed with ^zworms and ^adirt;

my skin hardens, then ^bbreaks out afresh.

6  My days are ^cswifter than ^da weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.

7  “Remember that my life is a ^ebreath;

my eye will never again see good.

8  ^fThe eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;

while your eyes are on me, ^gI shall be gone.

9  As ^hthe cloud fades and vanishes,

so he who ⁱgoes down to Sheol does not come up;

10  he ^jreturns no more to his house,

nor does his ^kplace know him anymore.

11  “Therefore I will not ^lrestrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will ^mcomplain in ⁿthe bitterness of my soul.

12  Am I the sea, or ^oa sea monster,

that you set a guard over me?

13  ^pWhen I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,’

14  then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

15  so that I would choose strangling

and death rather than my ^qbones.

16  I ^rloathe my life; I would not live forever.

^sLeave me alone, for my days are ^ta breath.

17  ^uWhat is man, that you make so much of him,

and that you set your heart on him,

18  ^vvisit him every morning

and ^wtest him every moment?

19  How long will you not ^xlook away from me,

nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20  If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me ^yyour mark?

Why have I become a burden to you?

21  Why do you not pardon my transgression

and take away my iniquity?

For now I shall lie in ^zthe earth;

you will ^aseek me, ^bbut I shall not be.”