| 1. | Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a hireling? |
| 2. | As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as a hireling looketh for the reward of his work; |
| 3. | So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. |
| 4. | When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro to the dawning of the day. |
| 5. | My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and become lothsome. |
| 6. | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. |
| 7. | O remember that my life is wind: my eye will no more see good. |
| 8. | The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thy eyes are upon me, and I am not. |
| 9. | As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. |
| 10. | He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. |
| 11. | 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. |
| 12. | Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? |
| 13. | When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; |
| 14. | Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: |
| 15. | So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. |
| 16. | I lothe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity. |
| 17. | What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? and that thou shouldst set thy heart upon him? |
| 18. | And that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment? |
| 19. | How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle? |
| 20. | I have sinned; what shall I do to thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? |
| 21. | And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. |