¹My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

³Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

⁴Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

⁵Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,

⁶That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

⁷Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

⁸Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

¹²Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

¹³And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.

¹⁴If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

¹⁵If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

¹⁶For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

¹⁷Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

¹⁸Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

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

²²A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.