1. ‘Do not mortals have hard service on earth?Are not their days like those of hired labourers?
2. Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,or a hired labourer waiting to be paid,
3. so I have been allotted months of futility,and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
4. When I lie down I think, “How long before I get up?”The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5. My body is clothed with worms and scabs,my skin is broken and festering.
6. ‘My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,and they come to an end without hope.
7. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;my eyes will never see happiness again.
8. The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;you will look for me, but I will be no more.
9. As a cloud vanishes and is gone,so one who goes down to the grave does not return.
10. He will never come to his house again;his place will know him no more.
11. ‘Therefore I will not keep silent;I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12. Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,that you put me under guard?