1 It annoyeth my soul of my life; I shall leave my speech against me, I shall speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I shall say to God, Do not thou condemn me; show thou to me, why thou deemest me so.

3 Whether it seemeth good to thee, if thou challengest me as false, and oppressest me, the work of thine hands; and if thou helpest the counsel of wicked men?

4 Whether fleshly eyes be to thee, either, as a man seeth, also thou shalt see?

5 Whether thy days be as the days of a man, and be thy years as man’s times;

6 that thou inquire about my wicked-ness, and ensearch my sin?

7 And thou, Lord, know, that I have done no wicked thing; since there is no man, that may deliver from thine hand?

8 Thine hands have made me, and have formed me all in compass; and thou hast cast me down suddenly.

9 Lord, I pray thee, have thou mind, that thou madest me as clay, and shalt bring me again into dust.

10 Whether thou hast not milked me as milk, and hast crudded or curdled me together as cheese?

11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh; and thou hast joined me together with bones and sinews.

12 Thou hast given life and mercy to me, and thy visiting hath kept my spirit.

13 And though thou coverest these things in thine heart, nevertheless I know, that thou hast mind of all these things.

14 And if when I did sin, thou spared-est me at an hour; why sufferest thou not me to be clean of my wickedness?

15 And if I was wicked, woe is to me; and if I was just [or rightwise], I shall not raise up mine head, that am full-filled with torment, and wretched-ness.

16 And if I raise up mine head for pride, thou shalt take me as a lioness; and thou turnest again, and tormentest me wonderfully.

17 Thou gatherest in store thy witnesses against me, and thou multipliest thine ire [or thy wrath], that is, vengeance, against me; and pains hold knighthood [or fight] in me.

18 Lord, why hast thou led me out of the womb? Why not had I erst been wasted, that an eye had not seen me.

19 That I had been, as if I were not, and were translated, either borne over, from the womb to the sepulchre.

20 Whether not the fewness of my days shall be ended in short time? Therefore suffer thou me, that I bewail a little my sorrow,

21 before that I go, and turn not again, to the dark land, and covered with the darkness of death,

22 to the land of wretchedness, and of darknesses; where is shadow of death, and none order, but everlasting hideousness dwelleth.