| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain. | 1“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me— tell me the charge you are bringing against me. | 2I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me. |
| 3What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked? | 3Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? |
| 4Are your eyes like those of a human? Do you see things only as people see them? | 4Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees? |
| 5Is your lifetime only as long as ours? Is your life so short | 5Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man, |
| 6that you must quickly probe for my guilt and search for my sin? | 6that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin— |
| 7Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands. | 7though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand? |
| 8“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me. | 8Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me? |
| 9Remember that you made me from dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon? | 9Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust? |
| 10You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. | 10Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese? |
| 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. | 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. |
| 12You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care. | 12You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit. |
| 13“‘Yet your real motive— your true intent— | 13Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind: |
| 14was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my guilt. | 14If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity. |
| 15If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery. | 15If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction. |
| 16And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me. | 16Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me. |
| 17Again and again you witness against me. You pour out your growing anger on me and bring fresh armies against me. | 17You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave. |
| 18“‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb? Why didn’t you let me die at birth? | 18Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me! |
| 19It would be as though I had never existed, going directly from the womb to the grave. | 19If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave. |
| 20I have only a few days left, so leave me alone, that I may have a moment of comfort | 20Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort, |
| 21before I leave—never to return— for the land of darkness and utter gloom. | 21before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom, |
| 22It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of gloom and confusion, where even the light is dark as midnight.’” | 22to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.” |
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