ESV Study Bible | English Standard Version

7 “Has not man r a hard service on earth,
and are not his s days like the days of a hired hand?
 2 Like a slave who longs for t the shadow,
and like u a hired hand who looks for his v wages,
 3 so I am allotted months of w emptiness,
x and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
 4 y When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
 5 My flesh is clothed with z worms and a dirt;
my skin hardens, then b breaks out afresh.
 6 My days are c swifter than d a weaver's shuttle
and come to their end without hope.

 7 “Remember that my life is a e breath;
my eye will never again see good.
 8 f The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, g I shall be gone.
 9 As h the cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who i goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 he j returns no more to his house,
nor does his k place know him anymore.

11 “Therefore I will not l restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will m complain in n the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or o a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 p When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my q bones.
16 I r loathe my life; I would not live forever.
s Leave me alone, for my days are t a breath.
17 u What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 v visit him every morning
and w test him every moment?
19 How long will you not x look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me y your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in z the earth;
you will a seek me, b but I shall not be.”