10 My soul is weary of my life;
I will give free course to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say unto God, Do not condemn me;
Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.
³ Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress,
That thou shouldest despise the ^[a]work of thy hands,
And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
⁴ Hast thou eyes of flesh?
Or seest thou as man seeth?
⁵ Are thy days as the days of man,
Or thy years as man’s days,
⁶ That thou inquirest after mine iniquity,
And searchest after my sin,
⁷ Although thou knowest that I am not wicked,
And there is none that can deliver out of thy hand?

⁸ Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me
Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
⁹ Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay;
And wilt thou bring me into dust again?
¹⁰ Hast thou not poured me out as milk,
And curdled me like cheese?
¹¹ Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹² Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness;
And thy ^[b]visitation hath preserved my spirit.
¹³ Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart;
I know that this is with thee:
¹⁴ If I sin, then thou markest me,
And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
¹⁵ If I be wicked, woe unto me;
And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head;
^[c]Being filled with ignominy,
And looking upon mine affliction.
¹⁶ And if my head exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion;
And again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me.
¹⁷ Thou renewest thy witnesses against me,
And increasest thine indignation upon me:
^[d]Changes and warfare are with me.

¹⁸ Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?
I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
¹⁹ I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ Are not my days few? ^[e]cease then,
And let me alone, that I may ^[f]take comfort a little,
²¹ Before I go whence I shall not return,
Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
²² The land dark as ^[g]midnight,
The land of the shadow of death, without any order,
And where the light is as ^[h]midnight.