1I am disgusted with my life.a

I will give vent to my complaint

and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will say to God,

“Do not declare me guilty!

Let me know why you prosecute me.

3Is it good for you to oppress,

to reject the work of your hands,a

and favorA the plans of the wicked?b

4Do you have eyes of flesh,

or do you see as a human sees?

5Are your days like those of a human,

or your years like those of a man,a

6that you look for my iniquitya

and search for my sin,

7even though you know that I am not wicked

and that there is no one who can rescue from your power?a

8“Your hands shaped me and formed me.a

Will you now turn and destroy me?

9Please remember that you formed me like clay.

Will you now return me to dust?a

10Did you not pour me out like milk

and curdle me like cheese?

11You clothed me with skin and flesh,

and wove me together with bones and tendons.a

12You gave me life and faithful love,

and your care has guarded my life.

13“Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart;

I know that this was your hidden plan:A

14if I sin, you would notice,A

and would not acquit me of my iniquity.a

15If I am wicked, woe to me!

And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.

I am filled with shamea

and have drunk deeply ofA my affliction.b

16If I am proud,A you hunt me like a lion

and again display your miraculous power against me.a

17You produce new witnessesA against me

and multiply your anger toward me.

Hardships assault me, wave after wave.B

18“Why did you bring me out of the womb?a

I should have died and never been seen.

19I wishA I had never existed

but had been carried from the womb to the grave.a

20Are my days not few? Stop it!A

Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little

21before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,a

never to return.

22It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,

gloomy and chaotic,

where even the light is likeA the darkness.”