| 1. | Is there not a warfare to man on earth? And as the days of an hireling his days? |
| 2. | As a servant desireth the shadow, And as a hireling expecteth his wage, |
| 3. | So I have been caused to inherit months of vanity, And nights of misery they numbered to me. |
| 4. | If I lay down then I said, `When do I rise!' And evening hath been measured, And I have been full of tossings till dawn. |
| 5. | Clothed hath been my flesh `with' worms, And a clod of dust, My skin hath been shrivelled and is loathsome, |
| 6. | My days swifter than a weaving machine, And they are consumed without hope. |
| 7. | Remember Thou that my life `is' a breath, Mine eye turneth not back to see good. |
| 8. | The eye of my beholder beholdeth me not. Thine eyes `are' upon me -- and I am not. |
| 9. | Consumed hath been a cloud, and it goeth, So he who is going down to Sheol cometh not up. |
| 10. | He turneth not again to his house, Nor doth his place discern him again. |
| 11. | Also I -- I withhold not my mouth -- I speak in the distress of my spirit, I talk in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 12. | A sea-`monster' am I, or a dragon, That thou settest over me a guard? |
| 13. | When I said, `My bed doth comfort me,' He taketh away in my talking my couch. |
| 14. | And thou hast affrighted me with dreams, And from visions thou terrifiest me, |
| 15. | And my soul chooseth strangling, Death rather than my bones. |
| 16. | I have wasted away -- not to the age do I live. Cease from me, for my days `are' vanity. |
| 17. | What `is' man that Thou dost magnify him? And that Thou settest unto him Thy heart? |
| 18. | And inspectest him in the mornings, In the evenings dost try him? |
| 19. | How long dost Thou not look from me? Thou dost not desist till I swallow my spittle. |
| 20. | I have sinned, what do I to Thee, O watcher of man? Why hast Thou set me for a mark to Thee, And I am for a burden to myself -- and what? |
| 21. | Thou dost not take away my transgression, And cause to pass away mine iniquity, Because now, for dust I lie down: And Thou hast sought me -- and I am not! |