10 I am disgusted with my life.^(A)
I will express my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say to God:
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why You prosecute me.
³ Is it good for You to oppress,
to reject the work of Your hands,
and favor^[a] the plans of the wicked?
⁴ Do You have eyes of flesh,
or do You see as a human sees?
⁵ Are Your days like those of a human,
or Your years like those of a man,^(B)
6 that You look for my wrongdoing^(C)
and search for my sin,
⁷ even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

⁸ “Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will You now turn and destroy me?
⁹ Please remember that You formed me like clay.
Will You now return me to dust?^(D)
10 Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.
¹² You gave me life and faithful love,
and Your care has guarded my life.

¹³ “Yet You concealed these thoughts in Your heart;
I know that this was Your hidden plan:^[b]
14 if I sin, You would notice,^[c]
and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.^(E)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame
and aware of my affliction.^(F)
16 If I am proud,^[d] You hunt me like a lion
and again display Your miraculous power against me.^(G)
17 You produce new witnesses^[e] against me
and multiply Your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.^[f]

¹⁸ “Why did You bring me out of the womb?^(H)
I should have died and never been seen.
¹⁹ I wish^[g] I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.^(I)
20 Are my days not few? Stop it!^[h]
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
²¹ before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,^(J)
never to return.
²² It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like^[i] the darkness.”