1. “I hate my own life.So I will complain without holding back.And I will speak because I am so unhappy.
2. I will say to God: Do not hold me guilty.But tell me what you have against me.
3. Does it make you happy to trouble me?Don’t you care about me, the work of your own hands?Are you happy with the plans of evil people?
4. Do you have human eyes?Do you see as a man sees?
5. Are your days like the days of man?Are your years like the years of a man?
6. You look for evil I have doneand search for my sin.
7. But you know I am not guilty.And you know no one can save me from your power.
8. “Your hands shaped me and made me.But now you turn around and destroy me.
9. Remember that you molded me like a piece of clay.Now will you turn me back into dust?
10. You formed me in my mother’s wombas cheese is formed from milk.
11. You put skin and flesh on me like clothing.You sewed me together with bones and muscles.
12. You gave me life and showed me kindness.And in your care you watched over my life.
13. “But in your heart you hid other plans.I know this is what was in your mind:
14. If I sinned, you would be watching me.You would not let my sin go unpunished.
15. How terrible it will be for me if I am guilty!But even if I am right, I cannot lift my head.I am full of shame.It is as if I am drowning in my pain.
16. If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion.And again you show your terrible power against me.
17. You bring new witnesses against me.You increase your anger against me.Your armies come against me like waves of the sea.
18. “So why did you allow me to be born?I wish I had died before anyone saw me.
19. I wish I had never been born.Or I wish I had been carried straight from birth to the grave!
20. My few days of life are almost over.Leave me alone so I can have a moment of joy.
21. Soon I will leave and not return.I will go to the land of darkness and gloom.
22. It is the land of darkest night.It is the land of gloom and confusion.Even the light is darkness there.”