⁸ ‘Your^(D) hands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
Yet You would ^(E)destroy me.
⁹ Remember, I pray, ^(F)that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
^10 (G)Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
¹¹ Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
¹² You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³ ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
¹⁴ If I sin, then ^(H)You mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵ If I am wicked, ^(I)woe to me;
^(J)Even if I am righteous, I ^[b]cannot lift up my head.
I am full of disgrace;
^(K)See my misery!
¹⁶ If my head is exalted,
^(L)You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
¹⁷ You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war are ever with me.

¹⁸ ‘Why^(M) then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
¹⁹ I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
^20 (N)Are not my days few?
Cease! ^(O)Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
²¹ Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,
^(P)To the land of darkness ^(Q)and the shadow of death,
²² A land as dark as darkness itself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”