The Latin Vulgate VUL
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 militia est vita hominis super terram et sicut dies mercennarii dies eius
1
"Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2 sicut servus desiderat umbram et sicut mercennarius praestolatur finem operis sui
2
Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages,
3 sic et ego habui menses vacuos et noctes laboriosas enumeravi mihi
3
so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 si dormiero dico quando consurgam et rursum expectabo vesperam et replebor doloribus usque ad tenebras
4
When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5 induta est caro mea putredine et sordibus pulveris cutis mea aruit et contracta est
5
My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
6 dies mei velocius transierunt quam a texente tela succiditur et consumpti sunt absque ulla spe
6
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
7 memento quia ventus est vita mea et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona
7
"Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.
8 nec aspiciet me visus hominis oculi tui in me et non subsistam
8
The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while thy eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
9 sicut consumitur nubes et pertransit sic qui descenderit ad inferos non ascendet
9
As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 nec revertetur ultra in domum suam neque cognoscet eum amplius locus eius
10
he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him any more.
11 quapropter et ego non parcam ori meo loquar in tribulatione spiritus mei confabulabor cum amaritudine animae meae
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.
12 numquid mare sum ego aut cetus quia circumdedisti me carcere
12
Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that thou settest a guard over me?
13 si dixero consolabitur me lectulus meus et relevabor loquens mecum in strato meo
13
When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
14 terrebis me per somnia et per visiones horrore concuties
14
then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 quam ob rem elegit suspendium anima mea et mortem ossa mea
15
so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
16 desperavi nequaquam ultra iam vivam parce mihi nihil enim sunt dies mei
16
I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17 quid est homo quia magnificas eum aut quia ponis erga eum cor tuum
17
What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,
18 visitas eum diluculo et subito probas illum
18
dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19 usquequo non parces mihi nec dimittis me ut gluttiam salivam meam
19
How long wilt thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
20 peccavi quid faciam tibi o custos hominum quare posuisti me contrarium tibi et factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis
20
If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?
21 cur non tolles peccatum meum et quare non auferes iniquitatem meam ecce nunc in pulvere dormiam et si mane me quaesieris non subsistam
21
Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.