| 1. | Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling? |
| 2. | He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. |
| 3. | So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been told off for me. |
| 4. | If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. |
| 5. | My flesh is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin cracks and festers; |
| 6. | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope. |
| 7. | Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again. |
| 8. | The eye that now sees me shall no more behold me; as you look at me, I shall be gone. |
| 9. | As a cloud dissolves and vanishes, so he who goes down to the nether world shall come up no more. |
| 10. | He shall not again return to his house; his place shall know him no more. |
| 11. | My own utterance I will not restrain; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 12. | Am I the sea, or a monster of the deep, that you place a watch over me? Why have you set me up as an object of attack; or why should I be a target for you? |
| 13. | When I say, "My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint," |
| 14. | Then you affright me with dreams and with visions terrify me, |
| 15. | So that I should prefer choking and death rather than my pains. |
| 16. | I waste away: I cannot live forever; let me alone, for my days are but a breath. |
| 17. | What is man, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed? |
| 18. | You observe him with each new day and try him at every moment! |
| 19. | How long will it be before you look away from me, and let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle? |
| 20. | Though I have sinned, what can I do to you, O watcher of men? |
| 21. | Why do you not pardon my offense, or take away my guilt? For soon I shall lie down in the dust; and should you seek me I shall then be gone. |
