10 “I ·hate [am disgusted with] my life,
so I will ·complain without holding back [L abandon myself to my sighs];
I will speak ·because I am so unhappy [L in my bitterness].
2 I will say to God: Do not ·hold [declare] me guilty,
but tell me ·what you have against [why you accuse] me.
3 ·Does it make you happy [or Is it right for you] to ·trouble [oppress] me?
·Don’t you care about [L Must you despise] me, the work of your hands?
·Are you happy with [or Do you favor] the plans of evil people?
4 Do you have ·human eyes [L eyes of flesh]
that see ·as we see [L with human vision]?
5 Are your days like the days of humans,
and your years like our years?
6 [L For] You ·look for the evil I have done [L investigate my transgression]
and search for my sin.
7 You know I am not guilty,
but no one can ·save [rescue] me from your ·power [L hand].
8 “Your hands shaped and made me.
Do you now turn around and ·destroy [L swallow] me?
9 Remember that you molded me like a piece of clay.
Will you now turn me back into dust [Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7]?
10 ·You formed me inside my mother
like cheese formed from milk [L Do you not pour me out like milk, curdle me like cheese?].
11 You dressed me with skin and flesh;
you ·sewed [knit] me together with bones and ·muscles [sinews].
12 You gave me life and showed me ·kindness [loyalty],
and in your care you ·watched over my life [L set a watch over me].
13 “But in your heart you hid ·other plans [L these things].
I know this was in your mind.
14 If I sinned, you would watch me
and would not ·let my sin go unpunished [L declare me innocent of my transgression].
15 ·How terrible it will be for [L Woe to] me if I am guilty!
Even if I am ·right [righteous], I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame
and ·experience [L look on] only ·pain [affliction].
16 ·If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion [or Proud like a lion you hunt me]
and again show your terrible power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger against me.
Your armies come against me.
18 “So why did you ·allow me to be born [L bring me out of the womb]?
·I wish I had died [L Why did I not die…?] before ·anyone [L any eye] saw me.
19 I wish I had never lived,
but had been carried straight from ·birth [L womb] to the grave.
20 The few days of my life are almost over.
Leave me alone so I can have a moment of joy [Eccl. 2:24–26; 3:12–14, 22; 8:15; 5:19–20; 9:7–10].
21 Soon I will leave; I will not return
from the land of darkness and gloom,
22 the land of ·darkest night [or dimness and blackness],
from the land of gloom and ·confusion [chaos],
where even the light is darkness.”