₁We are all born weak and helpless.

All lead the same short, troubled life.

₂We grow and wither as quickly as flowers;

we disappear like shadows.

₃Will you even look at me, God,

or put me on trial and judge me?

₄Nothing clean can ever come

from anything as unclean as human beings.

₅The length of their lives is decided beforehand —

the number of months they will live.

You have settled it, and it can't be changed.

₆Look away from them and leave them alone;

let them enjoy their hard life — if they can.

₇There is hope for a tree that has been cut down;

it can come back to life and sprout.

₈Even though its roots grow old,

and its stump dies in the ground,

₉with water it will sprout like a young plant.

₁₀But people die, and that is the end of them;

they die, and where are they then?

₁₁Like rivers that stop running,

and lakes that go dry,

₁₂people die, never to rise.

They will never wake up while the sky endures;

they will never stir from their sleep.

₁₃I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead;

let me be hidden until your anger is over,

and then set a time to remember me.

₁₄If people die, can they come back to life?

But I will wait for better times,

wait till this time of trouble is ended.

₁I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.

₂He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness

₃And beat me again and again with merciless blows.

₄He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.

₅He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.

₆He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.

₇He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.

₈I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;

₉I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.

₁₉The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison;

₂₀I think of it constantly and my spirit is depressed.

₂₁Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:

₂₂The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue,

₂₃Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.

₂₄The LORD is all I have, and so I put my hope in him.