1“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth?
Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
2As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,
as a hireling who looks for his wages,
3so I am made to possess months of misery,
wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4When I lie down, I say,
‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
7Oh remember that my life is a breath.
My eye will no more see good.
8The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.
Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
9As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.
10He will return no more to his house,
neither will his place know him any more.
11“Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12Am I a sea, or a sea monster,
that You put a guard over me?
13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me.
My couch will ease my complaint,’
14then You scare me with dreams
and terrify me through visions,
15so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than my bones.
16I loathe my life.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17What is man, that You should magnify him,
that You should set Your mind on him,
18that You should visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
19How long will You not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20If I have sinned, what do I do to You, You watcher of men?
Why have You set me as a mark for You,
so that I am a burden to myself?
21Why do You not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now will I lie down in the dust.
You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”
1Militia est vita hominis super terram, et sicut dies mercenarii dies ejus. 2Sicut servus desiderat umbram, et sicut mercenarius præstolatur finem operis sui, 3sic et ego habui menses vacuos, et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi. 4Si dormiero, dicam: Quando consurgam? et rursum expectabo vesperam, et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras. 5Induta est caro mea putredine, et sordibus pulveris cutis mea aruit et contracta est. 6Dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur, et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe. 7Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona. 8Nec aspiciet me visus hominis; oculi tui in me, et non subsistam. 9Sicut consumitur nubes, et pertransit, sic qui descenderit ad inferos, non ascendet. 10Nec revertetur ultra in domum suam, neque cognoscet eum amplius locus ejus. 11Quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo: loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei; confabulabor cum amaritudine animæ meæ. 12Numquid mare ego sum, aut cetus, quia circumdedisti me carcere? 13Si dixero: Consolabitur me lectulus meus, et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo: 14terrebis me per somnia, et per visiones horrore concuties. 15Quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea, et mortem ossa mea. 16Desperavi: nequaquam ultra jam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei. 17Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum? 18Visitas eum diluculo, et subito probas illum. 19Usquequo non parcis mihi, nec dimittis me ut glutiam salivam meam? 20Peccavi; quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum? quare posuisti me contrarium tibi, et factus sum mihimetipsi gravis? 21Cur non tollis peccatum meum, et quare non aufers iniquitatem meam? ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam, et si mane me quæsieris, non subsistam.