1Jeg er led og ked af at leve. Lad mig give frit løb for min klage, give luft for bitterheden i min sjæl.2Døm mig ikke bare skyldig, oh, Gud, men fortæl mig, hvilken synd jeg har begået.3Hvad gavn har du af at ødelægge mig? Hvorfor forkaster du det, du selv har skabt, og lader de ondes intriger lykkes?4Er dine øjne som et menneskes øjne? Er dine tanker som mennesketanker?5Er dit liv kort som et menneskes? Lever du kun nogle ganske få år,6siden du har så travlt med at finde fejl, er så ivrig efter at dømme mig skyldig?7Du ved, jeg er uskyldig, men hvem kan redde mig fra din straf?8Det var dine hænder, som skabte mig, men nu er du ved at ødelægge mig!9Husk på, at jeg er formet af skrøbeligt ler. Vil du virkelig knuse mig til støv?10Du stod bag min undfangelse og formede mig i min moders liv.11Du dannede mine knogler og sener og dækkede dem med muskler og hud.12Du gav mig livet ved din nåde og værnede om mig i min opvækst.13Men du havde mere i tanke, og det forstår jeg først nu:14Du ville holde øje med, om jeg syndede, og hvis jeg gjorde det, ville du ikke tilgive.15Var jeg skyldig, ville jeg få min straf. Og selv om jeg var uskyldig, kunne jeg ikke frimodigt løfte hovedet på grund af min elendighed og ulykke.16Da jeg alligevel gjorde det, sprang du på mig som en løve og demonstrerede din magt over mig.17Du sendte nye lidelser over mig, og din vrede syntes at vokse, for den ene ulykke afløste den anden.18Hvorfor lod du mig dog blive født? Gid jeg var død i min moders liv,19så det var, som om jeg aldrig havde levet, men blev lagt direkte ned i graven.20Jeg har ikke mange dage tilbage af mit liv. Kan jeg ikke få lidt fred og trøst til sidst?21Når jeg først er draget til de dødes rige, vender jeg aldrig mere tilbage.22Der bliver lyset opslugt af mørket, så der altid er kaos og kulsort nat.”
1“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. (4.Mos 11,15; 1.Kong 19,4; Job 7,11; Job 7,16; Job 9,21; Job 21,4; Job 23,2)2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. (Job 9,3; Job 9,29)3Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? (Job 9,24; Job 13,9; Job 14,15; Salm 89,38; Salm 138,8; Es 64,8)4Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? (1.Sam 16,7; Joh 8,15)5Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, (Job 36,26; Salm 77,10; Salm 90,4; 2.Pet 3,8)6that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, (Job 14,16)7although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand? (5.Mos 32,39; Job 2,3; Job 2,9; Es 43,13)8Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. (Salm 119,73)9Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? (1.Mos 2,7; 1.Mos 3,19; Job 4,17; Job 34,15; Salm 146,4; Præd 12,7)10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.12You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.13Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. (Job 23,14; Job 27,11)14If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. (Job 9,28; Job 13,27; Job 33,11; Salm 130,3)15If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. (Job 9,15; Salm 25,18; Es 3,11)16And were my head lifted up,[1] you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. (Job 5,9; Job 28,8; Es 38,13; Hos 5,14; Hos 13,7)17You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. (Ruth 1,21; Job 16,8; Job 19,12)18“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me (Job 3,3; Job 3,11)19and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. (Ob 1,16)20Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer (Job 7,16; Job 9,27; Job 14,1; Salm 39,13)21before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, (2.Sam 12,23; Job 3,5; Job 16,22; Job 30,26; Salm 88,12)22the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”