1 - Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

2 - As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow, And as a hireling that looketh for his wages:

3 - So am I made to possess months of misery, 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 unto the dawning of the day.

5 - My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; My skin closeth up, and breaketh out afresh.

6 - My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And are spent without hope.

7 - Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good.

8 - The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.

9 - As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, So he that goeth down to Sheol 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 refrain 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 sea-monster, 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 [these] my bones.

16 - I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.

17 - What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,

18 - And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, And try him every moment?

19 - How long wilt thou not look away from me, Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

20 - If I have sinned, what do I unto thee, O thou watcher of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, So that I am a burden to myself?

21 - And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; And thou wilt seek me diligently, but I shall not be.