7 "Do not mortals have hard service on earth?
Are not their days like those of hired laborers?
² Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,
or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,
³ so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
⁴ When I lie down I think, ’How long before I get up?’
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
⁵ My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.

⁶ "My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
⁷ Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.
⁸ The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.
⁹ As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so one who goes down to the grave does not return.
¹⁰ He will never come to his house again;
his place will know him no more.

¹¹ "Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?
¹³ When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,
¹⁴ even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵ so that I prefer strangling and death,
rather than this body of mine.
¹⁶ I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

¹⁷ "What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,
¹⁸ that you examine them every morning
and test them every moment?
¹⁹ Will you never look away from me,
or let me alone even for an instant?
²⁰ If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a burden to you?^[a]
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?
For I will soon lie down in the dust;
you will search for me, but I will be no more."

² "How long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.
³ Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
⁴ When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
⁵ But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.
⁷ Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous will your future be.

⁸ "Ask the former generation
and find out what their ancestors learned,
⁹ for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
and our days on earth are but a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not instruct you and tell you?
Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
¹¹ Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Can reeds thrive without water?
¹² While still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than grass.
¹³ Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
so perishes the hope of the godless.
¹⁴ What they trust in is fragile^[b];
what they rely on is a spider’s web.
¹⁵ They lean on the web, but it gives way;
they cling to it, but it does not hold.
¹⁶ They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots over the garden;
¹⁷ it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
and looks for a place among the stones.
¹⁸ But when it is torn from its spot,
that place disowns it and says, ’I never saw you.’
¹⁹ Surely its life withers away,
and^[c] from the soil other plants grow.

²⁰ "Surely God does not reject one who is blameless
or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
²² Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more."

² "Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
³ Though they wished to dispute with him,
they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
⁴ His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
⁵ He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.
⁷ He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.
⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear^[d] and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
¹⁰ He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
¹¹ When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
¹² If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, ’What are you doing?’
¹³ God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

¹⁴ "How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?
¹⁵ Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
¹⁶ Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
¹⁷ He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
¹⁸ He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.
¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him^[e]?
²⁰ Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

²¹ "Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
²² It is all the same; that is why I say,
’He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
²⁴ When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵ "My days are swifter than a runner;
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
²⁶ They skim past like boats of papyrus,
like eagles swooping down on their prey.
²⁷ If I say, ’I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression, and smile,’
²⁸ I still dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?
³⁰ Even if I washed myself with soap
and my hands with cleansing powder,
³¹ you would plunge me into a slime pit
so that even my clothes would detest me.

³² "He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
³³ If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together,
³⁴ someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
³⁵ Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.