1Isn't a person forced to work hard on earth? Aren't their lives like a hired worker's days?
2Like a servant who eagerly longs for shade, like a hired worker who waits for their pay,
3so I have been given months of misery, and tiresome nights are appointed for me.
4When I lie down, I ask, 'When will I get up and the night be over?' I toss and turn until dawn.
5My body is covered with worms and clumps of dust. My skin heals, then breaks out again.
6My days pass more quickly than a weaver's shuttle, and they end without hope.
7Please remember that my life is just a breath. My eyes will no longer see good things.
8The person who sees me now will see me no more. Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
9Just as a cloud disappears and is gone, so whoever goes down to the grave will not come up again.
10They will never return to their house, nor will their home recognize them anymore.
11Therefore, I will not keep quiet. I will speak out of my troubled spirit. I will complain because of my bitter soul.
12Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you need to put a guard over me?
13When I think, 'My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my suffering,'
14then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
15Because of this, I'd rather be choked to death than continue living in my body.
16I hate my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, because my days are just a short breath.
17What is humanity that you care about us so much, that you pay so much attention to us?
18That you check on us every morning and test us every moment?
19How long until you stop looking at me? Won't you leave me alone long enough for me to even swallow my spit?
20If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who watch over all people? Why have you made me your target so that I am a burden to myself?
21Why don't you forgive my wrongdoing and take away my sin? For soon I will lie down in the dust. You will search for me diligently, but I will no longer be there.”