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2“If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales!

3It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—
no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God's terrors are marshaled against me.

5Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,
or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

8“Oh, that I might have my request,
that God would grant what I hope for,

9that God would be willing to crush me,
to let loose his hand and cut me off!

10Then I would still have this consolation—
my joy in unrelenting pain—
that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

11“What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?

12Do I have the strength of stone?
Is my flesh bronze?

13Do I have any power to help myself,
now that success has been driven from me?

14“A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends,
even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
as the streams that overflow

16when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,

17but that cease to flow in the dry season,
and in the heat vanish from their channels.

18Caravans turn aside from their routes;
they go up into the wasteland and perish.

19The caravans of Tema look for water,
the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

20They are distressed, because they had been confident;
they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

21Now you too have proved to be of no help;
you see something dreadful and are afraid.

22Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,
pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

23deliver me from the hand of the enemy,
ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

24“Teach me, and I will be quiet;
show me where I have been wrong.

25How painful are honest words!
But what do your arguments prove?

26Do you mean to correct what I say,
and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?

27You would even cast lots for the fatherless
and barter away your friend.

28“But now be so kind as to look at me.
Would I lie to your face?

29Relent, do not be unjust;
reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.Or my righteousness still stands

30Is there any wickedness on my lips?
Can my mouth not discern malice?

2Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,
or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages,

3so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

4When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’
The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.

5My 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.

7Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.

8The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.

9As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so he who goes down to the graveHebrew Sheol does not return.

10He 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.

12Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?

13When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,

14even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,

15so that I prefer strangling and death,
rather than this body of mine.

16I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

17“What is man that you make so much of him,
that you give him so much attention,

18that you examine him every morning
and test him every moment?

19Will you never look away from me,
or let me alone even for an instant?

20If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
O watcher of men?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a burden to you?A few manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition and Septuagint; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text I have become a burden to myself.

21Why 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.”