| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? | 1Isn't mankind consigned to forced labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand? |
| 2Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, | 2Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hired man he waits for his pay. |
| 3so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. | 3So I have been made to inherit months of futility, and troubled nights have been assigned 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. | 4When I lie down I think: When will I get up? But the evening drags on endlessly, and I toss and turn until dawn. |
| 5My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. | 5My flesh is clothed with maggots and encrusted with dirt. My skin forms scabs and then oozes. |
| 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope. | 6My days pass more swiftly than a weaver's shuttle; 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. My eye will never again see anything good. |
| 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 anyone who looks on me will no longer see me. 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 fades away and vanishes, so the one who goes down to Sheol will never rise again. |
| 10he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. | 10He will never return to his house; his hometown will no longer remember him. |
| 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. | 11Therefore I will not restrain 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 a sea monster, that You keep me under guard? |
| 13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ | 13When I say: My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint, |
| 14then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, | 14then You frighten me with dreams, and terrify me with visions, |
| 15so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. | 15so that I prefer strangling-- death rather than life in this body. |
| 16I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. | 16I give up! I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. |
| 17What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, | 17What is man, that You think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him? |
| 18visit him every morning and test him every moment? | 18You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment. |
| 19How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? | 19Will You ever look away from me, or leave me alone long enough to swallow? |
| 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, Watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I have 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.” | 21Why not forgive my sin and pardon my transgression? For soon I will lie down in the grave. You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone. |
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