1  My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

1  Weary in my soul, I will pour my words with groans upon him: I will speak being straitened in the bitterness of my soul.

2  I will say unto God: Do not condemn me; make me know wherefore Thou contendest with me.

2  And I will say to the Lord, Do not teach me to be impious; and wherefore hast thou thus judged me?

2  I will say to God: Do not be willing to condemn me. Reveal to me why you judge me this way.

3  Is it good unto Thee that Thou shouldest oppress, that Thou shouldest despise the work of Thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

3  Is it good before thee if I be unrighteous? for thou hast disowned the work of thy hands, and attended to the counsel of the ungodly.

3  Does it seem good to you, if you find fault with me and oppress me, the work of your own hands, and assist the counsel of the impious?

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

4  Or dost thou see as a mortal sees? or wilt thou look as a man sees?

4  Do you have bodily eyes? Or, just as man sees, will you see?

5  Are Thy days as the days of man, or Thy years as a man's days,

5  Or is thy life human, or thy years the years of a man,

5  Are your days just like the days of man, and are your years as the times of humans,

6  That Thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin,

6  so that you would inquire about my iniquity and examine my sin?

7  Although Thou knowest that I shall not be condemned; and there is none that can deliver out of Thy hand?

7  And you know that I have done nothing impious, yet there is no one who can deliver from your hand.

8  Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about; yet Thou dost destroy me!

8  Your hands have made me and formed me all around, and, in this way, do you suddenly throw me away?

8  Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: and afterward thou wishest to condemn me, and to destroy me.

9  Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast fashioned me as clay; and wilt Thou bring me into dust again?

9  Remember that thou hast made me as clay, and thou dost turn me again to earth.

9  Remember, I ask you, that you have fashioned me like clay, and you will reduce me to dust.

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

10  Have you not extracted me like milk and curdled me like cheese?

10  Thou hast churned me as milk, and curdled me as cheese.

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

11  And thou didst clothe me with skin and flesh, and frame me with bones and sinews.

11  You have clothed me with skin and flesh. You have put me together with bones and nerves.

12  Thou hast granted me life and favour, and Thy providence hath preserved my spirit.

12  And thou didst bestow upon me life and mercy, and thy oversight has preserved my spirit.

12  You have assigned to me life and mercy, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13  Yet these things Thou didst hide in Thy heart; I know that this is with Thee;

13  Having these things in thyself, I know that thou canst do all things; for nothing is impossible with thee.

13  Though you may conceal this in your heart, yet I know that you remember everything.

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

14  And if I should sin, thou watchest me; and thou hast not cleared me from iniquity.

14  If I have sinned, and you have spared me for an hour, why do you not endure me to be clean from my iniquity?

15  If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head--being filled with ignominy and looking upon mine affliction.

15  Or if I should be ungodly, woe is me: and if I should be righteous, I cannot lift myself up, for I am full of dishonour.

15  And if I should be impious, woe to me, and if I should be just, I will not lift up my head, being drenched with affliction and misery.

16  And if it exalt itself, Thou huntest me as a lion; and again Thou showest Thyself marvellous upon me.

16  For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter; for again thou hast changed and art terribly destroying me;

16  And because of pride, you will seize me like a lioness, and having returned, you torment me to an extraordinary degree.

17  Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me, and increasest Thine indignation upon me; host succeeding host against me.

17  renewing against me my torture: and thou hast dealt with me in great anger, and thou hast brought trials upon me.

18  Wherefore then hast Thou brought me forth out of the womb? Would that I had perished, and no eye had seen me!

18  Why then didst thou bring me out of the womb? and why did I not die, and no eye see me,

18  Why did you lead me out of the womb? If only I had been consumed, so that no eye would ever see me!

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

19  and I become as if I had not been? for why was I not 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,

20  Is not the time of my life short? suffer me to rest a little,

20  The days of my life are few; let me alone, that I may be quiet and rest a little

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

21  before I depart and return no more to a land that is dark and covered with the fog of death,

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

22  to a land of perpetual darkness, where there is no light, neither can any one see the life of mortals.

22  a land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and nothing else but everlasting horror, dwells.