| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? | 1"Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man? |
| 2Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, | 2Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages, |
| 3so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. | 3thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me. |
| 4When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. | 4If I lie down, I say, 'When will I arise?', and the night stretches on and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns. |
| 5My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. | 5My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs; my skin is broken and festering. |
| 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope. | 6My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope. |
| 7“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. | 7Remember that my life is but a breath, that my eyes will never again see happiness. |
| 8The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. | 8The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. |
| 9As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; | 9As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again. |
| 10he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. | 10He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more. |
| 11“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. | 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. |
| 12Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me? | 12Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, that you must put me under guard? |
| 13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ | 13If I say, "My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint," |
| 14then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, | 14then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, |
| 15so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. | 15so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life. |
| 16I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. | 16I loathe it; I do not want to live forever; leave me alone, for my days are a vapor! |
| 17What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, | 17"What is mankind that you make so much of them, and that you pay attention to them? |
| 18visit him every morning and test him every moment? | 18And that you visit them every morning, and try them every moment? |
| 19How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? | 19Will you never look away from me, will you not let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle? |
| 20If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? | 20If I have sinned--what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to you? |
| 21Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.” | 21And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will be gone." |
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