CLV(i)
1 Has not a mortal a life of enlistment on the earth? And his days, are they not like the days of a hireling?
2 Like a servant who is gasping for shade, And like a hireling who is expecting his wages,
3 So am I allotted months of futility for me, And nights of misery have they assigned to me.
4 When I lie down, then I say, When shall I rise? Yet the evening measures on, And I am surfeited with restlessness until the morning gloaming.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggot and dirty scab; My skin is split apart and is fetid.
6 My days are fleeter than a weaver's shuttle, And they shall conclude with the limit of the weaving thread.
7 Remember that my life is a wind; My eye shall not turn back again to see good.
8 The eye of Him with sight shall not regard me; Your eyes will look for me, but I will not be there.
9 As a cloud vanishes and goes away, So one descending to the unseen shall not ascend.
10 He shall not return any more to his house, And his place shall not recognize him again.
11 Indeed for me, I shall not keep back my mouth; I shall speak in the distress of my spirit; I shall importune in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea or the monster That You should place a guard over me?
13 For I said, My cot shall comfort me; My bed shall bear away my concern;"
14 Yet You have dismayed me with dreams, And You have frightened me with visions.
15 So my soul would choose strangling; Death is desired by my bones.
16 I reject this; I would not live for the eon; Leave off from me, for my days are vanity.
17 What is a mortal that You should make a great thing of him, Or that You should set Your heart on him?
18 Or You should note him every morning, And You should test him every moment?
19 How long shall You not heed me, Or not let me relax even until I swallow my saliva?
20 I have sinned, Yet what do I contrive against You, O Preserver of mankind? Why have You established me as Your target mark, That I should become a load to You?
21 Why do You not bear my transgression And pass over my depravity? For now I shall lie in the soil, And You would seek me early, but I will not be there.