“The eye of him who sees me [now] will see me no more;
Your eyes will be upon me, but I will not be.

“He will not return again to his house,
Nor will his place know about him anymore.

“Am I the sea, or the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord].

“When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
My couch will ease my complaint,’

“Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my sin and guilt?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me [diligently], but I will not be.”

Then You frighten me with dreams
And terrify me through visions,

“I waste away and loathe my life; I will not live forever.
Let me alone, for my days are but a breath [futile and without substance].

So that I would choose suffocation,
Death rather than my pain.

“What is man that You [should] magnify him [and think him important]?
And that You are concerned about him?

“If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done to You,
O Watcher of mankind?
Why have You set me as a target for You,
So that I am a burden to myself?

“Will You never turn Your gaze away from me [it plagues me],
Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

“Remember that my life is but breath [a puff of wind, a sigh];
My eye will not see good again.

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And are spent without hope.

So am I allotted months of futility and suffering,
And [long] nights of trouble and misery are appointed to me.

“And that You examine him every morning
And try and test him every moment?

“When I lie down I say,
‘When shall I arise [and the night be gone]?’
But the night continues,
And I am continually tossing until the dawning of day.

“As a slave earnestly longs for the shade,
And as a hired man eagerly awaits his wages,

“My body is clothed with worms and a crust of dust;
My skin is hardened [and broken and loathsome], and [breaks out and] runs.

“Is not man forced to labor on earth?
And are not his days like the days of a hired man?

“As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
So he who goes down to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) does not come up.