| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. | 1"I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. | 2I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me. |
| 3Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? | 3Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked? |
| 4Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? | 4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? |
| 5Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, | 5Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man, |
| 6that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, | 6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin-- |
| 7although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand? | 7though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand? |
| 8Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. | 8"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? |
| 9Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? | 9Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? |
| 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. | 11clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? |
| 12You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. | 12You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. |
| 13Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. | 13"But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: |
| 14If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. | 14If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished. |
| 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 guilty--woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction. |
| 16And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. | 16If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. |
| 17You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. | 17You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave. |
| 18“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me | 18"Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. |
| 19and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. | 19If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight 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 not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy |
| 21before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, | 21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, |
| 22the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.” | 22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like 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. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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