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¹ "Has not man ^(a)a hard service on earth,
    and are not his ^(b)days like the days of a hired hand?
² Like a slave who longs for ^(c)the shadow,
    and like ^(d)a hired hand who looks for his ^(e)wages,
³ so I am allotted months of ^(f)emptiness,
    ^(g)and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
^4 (h)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 My flesh is clothed with ⁽ⁱ⁾worms and ^(j)dirt;
    my skin hardens, then ^(k)breaks out afresh.
⁶ My days are ^(l)swifter than ^(m)a weaver's shuttle
    and come to their end without hope.

⁷ "Remember that my life is a ⁽ⁿ⁾breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
^8 (o)The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, ^(p)I shall be gone.
⁹ As ^(q)the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so he who ^(r)goes down to Sheol does not come up;
¹⁰ he ^(s)returns no more to his house,
    nor does his ^(t)place know him anymore.

¹¹ "Therefore I will not ^(u)restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will ^(v)complain in ^(w)the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I the sea, or ^(x)a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?
^13 (y)When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,'
¹⁴ then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵ so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than my ^(z)bones.
¹⁶ I ^(aa)loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    ^(ab)Leave me alone, for my days are ^(ac)a breath.
^17 (ad)What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
^18 (ae)visit him every morning
    and ^(af)test him every moment?
¹⁹ How long will you not ^(ag)look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
²⁰ If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
    Why have you made me ^(ah)your mark?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
²¹ Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in ^(ai)the earth;
    you will ^(aj)seek me, ^(ak)but I shall not be."