1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint on my self; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; make me know why You contend with me. 3 Is it good to You that You should press down, that You should despise the work of Your hands, and shine on the counsel of the wicked? 4 Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You see as a man sees? 5 Are Your days like the days of man? Are Your years like man's days, 6 that You seek out my iniquity, and search for my sin? 7 You know that I am not wicked; and there is none who can deliver out of Your hand.
8 Your hands have made me and shaped me, together all around; yet You destroy me. 9 Remember, I beseech You, that You have formed me as the clay; and will You bring me into the dust again? 10 Have You not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? 11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have fenced me with bones and sinews. 12 You have granted me life and favor, and Your providence has preserved my spirit.
13 And these have You hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You. 14 If I sin, then You mark me, and You will not acquit me from my iniquity. 15 If I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, being filled with shame, and looking on my affliction. 16 For it increases! You hunt me as a fierce lion; and again You show Yourself marvelous on me. 17 You renew Your witnesses against me, and increase Your anger on me; changes and warfare are against me.
18 Why then have You brought me from the womb? Oh that I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me! 19 I should 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 then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, 21 before I go, and I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; 22 a land of obscurity, the darkness of the shadow of death, without any order, and the shining is as darkness.