1 Ek walg van my lewe; ek wil my geklaag die vrye loop gee; ek wil spreek in die bitterheid van my siel.
2 Ek sê tot God: Veroordeel my nie; laat my weet waarom U met my twis.
3 Is dit voordeel vir U dat U verdruk; dat U die arbeid van u hande verwerp, terwyl U oor die planne van die goddelose lig laat skyn?
4 Het U vleeslike oë? Of sien U soos 'n mens sien?
5 Is u dae soos die dae van 'n mens, of u jare soos die dae van 'n man?
6 dat U soek na my ongeregtigheid en vra na my sonde,
7 ofskoon U weet dat ek nie skuldig is nie en dat daar niemand is wat uit u hand kan red nie?
8 U hande het my geformeer en my gemaak, heeltemal rondom; en U vernietig my!
9 Bedink tog dat U my soos klei gevorm het, en wil U my tot stof laat terugkeer?
10 Het U my nie soos melk uitgegiet en my soos kaas laat dik word nie?
11 Met vel en vlees het U my beklee, en met beendere en senings het U my deurvleg.
12 Die lewe, ja, guns het U aan my bewys, en u sorg het my gees bewaak.
13 Maar daarby het U d¡t verberg in u hart, ek weet dat d¡t u toeleg was:
14 As ek gesondig het, sou U my waarneem en my nie vryspreek van my ongeregtigheid nie.
15 Was ek skuldig -- wee my! En was ek regverdig, ek sou my hoof nie kon ophef nie, sat van skande en bewus van my ellende.
16 En as my hoof hom ophef, sou U my jaag soos 'n leeu en U opnuut wonderbaarlik teenoor my gedra.
17 U sou altyd nuwe getuies teen my bring en u grimmigheid teen my vermeerder -- altyd nuwe leërafdelings teen my!
18 Waarom tog het U my uit die moederskoot laat uitgaan? Ek moes gesterf het sonder dat 'n oog my gesien het.
19 Ek moes gewees het of ek daar nie was nie; van die moederskoot af moes ek na die graf gedra gewees het.
20 Is my dae nie min nie? Laat Hy ophou, my laat staan, dat ek 'n bietjie vrolik kan wees,
21 voordat ek heengaan -- en nie terugkom nie -- na die land van duisternis en doodskaduwee,
22 'n land van donkerheid, soos middernag, van doodskaduwee en wanorde, en dit gee 'n skynsel -- soos middernag!
1 My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.
2 I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.
3 What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?
4 Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,
6 That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,
7 Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?
8 Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.
9 O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?
10 Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?
11 By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.
12 You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.
13 But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
14 That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:
15 That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.
16 And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:
17 That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.
18 Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,
19 And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.
20 Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,
21 Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,
22 A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.