Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?
Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the
reward of his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome
nights are appointed to me.
When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise and the night be gone?
And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin is broken and become loathsome.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope.
Oh, remember that my life is wind.
Mine eye shall no more see good.
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave
shall come up no more.
He shall return no more to his house.
Neither shall his place know him any more.
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.
Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest to watch over me?
When I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,
then thou scar'st me with dreams and terrify'st me through visions,
so that my soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life.
I loathe it.
I would not live all way.
Let me alone for my days are vanity.
What is man that thou shouldest magnify him and that thou shouldest set thine
heart upon him, and that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every
moment?
How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my
spittle?
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?
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.