Holman Christian Standard Bible CSB
English Standard Version ESV
1 I am disgusted with my life. I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
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“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will 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.
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I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.
3 Is it good for You to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked?
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Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh, or do You see as a human sees?
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Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?
5 Are Your days like those of a human, or Your years like those of a man,
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Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years,
6 that You look for my wrongdoing and search for my sin,
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that you seek out my iniquity 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?
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although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will You now turn around and destroy me?
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Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9 Please remember that You formed me like clay. Will You now return me to dust?
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Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
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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.
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You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave me life and faithful love, and Your care has guarded my life.
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You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet You concealed these [thoughts] in Your heart; I know that this was Your hidden plan:
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Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.
14 if I sin, You would notice, and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.
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If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
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.
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If 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.
16 If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion and again display Your miraculous power against me.
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And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.
17 You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave.
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You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.
18 Why did You bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen.
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“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19 I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
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and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are my days not few? Stop [it]! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
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Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.
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before I go—and I shall not return—to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
22 [It is] a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.
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the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness. ”
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025