1 ¶ I am weary of my life; so I will give free expression 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 are contending with me.

3 Does it seem good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and favor the schemes 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 man? are your years like the years of a man,

6 That you look for wrong in me, and search for my sin?

7 You know that I am not wicked; but there is no one who can deliver me out of your hand.

8 ¶ Your hands formed me and made me, will you now turn and destroy me?

9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay; will you turn me back into dust?

10 Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have framed me with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and favor, and your providence has preserved my spirit.

13 But you have concealed these things in your heart: I know that this is with you.

14 ¶ If I sin, then you observe me, and will not overlook my wrongdoing.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, I still cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame; and aware of my affliction;

16 For it increases. You hunt me like a fierce lion: and again you show your power against me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation toward me; constantly bringing fresh troops against me.

18 Why then did you bring me out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

19 I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort,

21 Before I go where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

22 A dark and gloomy land; like the deepest darkness, without any order, and where even the light is like thick darkness.