1. “Does not humanity have hard service on earth?Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?
2. Like a servant longing for the evening shadow,and like a hired man looking for his wages,
3. thus I have been made to inherit months of futility,and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me.
4. If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’,and the night stretches onand I toss and turn restlesslyuntil the day dawns.
5. My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs;my skin is broken and festering.
6. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttleand they come to an end without hope.
7. Remember that my life is but a breath,that my eyes will never again see happiness.
8. The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more;your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
9. As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears,so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again.
10. He returns no more to his house,nor does his place of residence know him any more.
11. “Therefore, I will not refrain 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, or the creature of the deep,that you must put me under guard?
13. If I say, “My bed will comfort me,my couch will ease my complaint,”
14. then you scare me with dreamsand terrify me with visions,