¹ Is not human life on earth just conscript service? Do we not live a hireling's life?

² Like a slave, sighing for the shade, or a hireling with no thought but for his wages,

³ I have months of futility assigned to me, nights of suffering to be my lot.

⁴ Lying in bed I wonder, 'When will it be day?' No sooner up than, 'When will evening come?' And crazy thoughts obsess me till twilight falls.

⁵ Vermin and loathsome scabs cover my body; my skin is cracked and oozes pus.

⁶ Swifter than a weaver's shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind.

⁷ Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.

⁸ The eye that once saw me will look on me no more, your eyes will turn my way, and I shall not be there.

⁹ A cloud dissolves and is gone, so no one who goes down to Sheol ever comes up again,

¹⁰ ever comes home again, and his house knows that person no more.

¹¹ That is why I cannot keep quiet: in my anguish of spirit I shall speak, in my bitterness of soul I shall complain.

¹² Am I the Sea, or some sea monster, that you should keep me under guard?

¹³ If I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will lighten my complaints,'

¹⁴ you then frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵ so that strangling would seem welcome in comparison, yes, death preferable to what I suffer.

¹⁶ I am wasting away, my life is not unending; leave me then, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷ What are human beings that you should take them so seriously, subjecting them to your scrutiny,

¹⁸ that morning after morning you should examine them and at every instant test them?

¹⁹ Will you never take your eyes off me long enough for me to swallow my spittle?

²⁰ Suppose I have sinned, what have I done to you, you tireless watcher of humanity? Why do you choose me as your target? Why should I be a burden to you?

²¹ Can you not tolerate my sin, not overlook my fault? For soon I shall be lying in the dust, you will look for me and I shall be no more.