1“I am weary of my life;
I will complain without restraint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
tell me why you are contending with me.’

3Is it good for you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands,
while you smile
on the schemes of the wicked?

Motivations of God

4“Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human being sees?

5Are your days like the days of a mortal,
or your years like the years of a mortal,

6that you must search out my iniquity,
and inquire about my sin,

7although you know that I am not guilty,
and that there is no one who can deliver
out of your hand?

Contradictions in God’s Dealings

8“Your hands have shaped me and made me,
but now you destroy me completely.

9Remember that you have made me as with the clay;
will you return me to dust?

10Did you not pour me out like milk,
and curdle me like cheese?

11You clothed me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12You gave me life and favor,
and your intervention watched over my spirit.

13“But these things you have concealed in your heart;
I know that this is with you:

14If I sinned, then you would watch me
and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

15If I am guilty, woe to me,
and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head;
I am full of shame,
and satiated with my affliction.

16If I lift myself up,
you hunt me as a fierce lion,
and again you display your power against me.

17You bring new witnesses against me,
and increase your anger against me;
relief troops come against me.

An Appeal for Relief

18“Why then did you bring me out from the womb?
I should have died
and no eye would have seen me!

19I should have been as though I had never existed;
I should have been carried
right from the womb to the grave!

20Are not my days few?
Cease, then, and leave me alone,
that I may find a little comfort,

21before I depart, never to return,
to the land of darkness
and the deepest shadow,

22to the land of utter darkness,
like the deepest darkness,
and the deepest shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”