| 1 ¶ Is there not an appointed1 time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
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| 2 As a servant earnestly2 desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
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| 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
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| 4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night3 be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
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| 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
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| 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
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| 7 ¶ O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall4 no more see5 good.
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| 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am6 not.
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| 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
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| 10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
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| 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.
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| 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
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| 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
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| 14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
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| 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.7
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| 16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
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| 17 ¶ What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
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| 18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
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| 19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
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| 20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
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| 21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
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