7 Isn’t each person consigned to forced labor^(A) on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired worker?
² Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired worker he waits for his pay.
³ So I have been made to inherit months of futility,
and troubled nights have been assigned to me.^(B)
4 When I lie down I think,
“When will I get up?”
But the evening drags on endlessly,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
⁵ My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt.^[a]
My skin forms scabs^[b] and then oozes.^(C)

⁶ My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.^(D)
7 Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.^(E)
8 The eye of anyone who looks on me
will no longer see me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.^(F)
9 As a cloud fades away and vanishes,
so the one who goes down to Sheol^(G) will never rise again.
¹⁰ He will never return to his house;
his hometown will no longer remember^[c] him.^(H)

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I the sea^[d](I) or a sea monster,^(J)
that you keep me under guard?
¹³ When I say, “My bed will comfort me,
and my couch will ease my complaint,”
¹⁴ then you frighten me with dreams,
and terrify me with visions,^(K)
15 so that I prefer strangling^[e]—
death rather than life in this body.^[f](L)
16 I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone,^(M) for my days are a breath.^[g]

¹⁷ What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him
and pay so much attention to him?^(N)
18 You inspect him every morning,
and put him to the test every moment.^(O)
19 Will you ever look away from me,
or leave me alone long enough to swallow?^[h]
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
Watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,^(P)
so that I have become a burden to you?^[i]
21 Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my iniquity?^(Q)
For soon I will lie down in the grave.^(R)
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.^(S)