| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1“My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. | 1"I am weary of my life; I will complain without restraint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. | 2I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.' |
| 3Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? | 3Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? |
| 4Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? | 4"Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human being sees? |
| 5Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, | 5Are your days like the days of a mortal, or your years like the years of a mortal, |
| 6That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, | 6that you must search out my iniquity, and inquire about my sin, |
| 7Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? | 7although you know that I am not guilty, and that there is no one who can deliver out of your hand? |
| 8‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. | 8"Your hands have shaped me and made me, but now you destroy me completely. |
| 9Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? | 9Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust? |
| 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? |
| 11Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? | 11You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. |
| 12You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit. | 12You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit. |
| 13‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You: | 13"But these things you have concealed in your heart; I know that this is with you: |
| 14If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. | 14If I sinned, then you would watch me and you would not acquit me of my iniquity. |
| 15If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! | 15If I am guilty, woe to me, and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head; I am full of shame, and satiated with my affliction. |
| 16If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. | 16If I lift myself up, you hunt me as a fierce lion, and again you display your power against me. |
| 17You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me. | 17You bring new witnesses against me, and increase your anger against me; relief troops come against me. |
| 18‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! | 18"Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died and no eye would have seen me! |
| 19I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. | 19I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave! |
| 20Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, | 20Are not my days few? Cease, then, and leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, |
| 21Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, | 21before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow, |
| 22A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ ” | 22to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness." |
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