| English Standard Version | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. | 1I am disgusted with my life. I will give vent to my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. | 2I will say to God, "Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why you prosecute me. |
| 3Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? | 3Is it good for you to oppress, to reject the work of your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked? |
| 4Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? | 4Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human sees? |
| 5Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, | 5Are your days like those of a human, or your years like those of a man, |
| 6that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, | 6that you look for my iniquity and search for my sin, |
| 7although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand? | 7even though you know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can rescue from your power? |
| 8Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. | 8"Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will you now turn and destroy me? |
| 9Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? | 9Please remember that you formed me like clay. Will you now return me to dust? |
| 10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? | 10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? |
| 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. | 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons. |
| 12You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. | 12You gave me life and faithful love, and your care has guarded my life. |
| 13Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. | 13"Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart; I know that this was your hidden plan: |
| 14If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. | 14if I sin, you would notice, and would not acquit me of my iniquity. |
| 15If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. | 15If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and have drunk deeply of my affliction. |
| 16And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. | 16If I am proud, you hunt me like a lion and again display your miraculous power against me. |
| 17You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. | 17You produce new witnesses against me and multiply your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave. |
| 18“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me | 18"Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen. |
| 19and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. | 19I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave. |
| 20Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer | 20Are my days not few? Stop it! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little |
| 21before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, | 21before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return. |
| 22the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.” | 22It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness." |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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