My soule is cut of though I lyue, I wil powre out my coplaynte against my selfe, and will speake out of the very heauinesse of my soule.

I will say vnto God: O do not condempne me, but shewe me wherefore thou contendest so with me?

Thinkest thou it welldone to oppresse me? to cast me of beyng the workes of thy handes? and to mayntayne the counsell of the vngodly?

Hast thou fleshy eyes? or doest thou loke as a man loketh?

Or are thy dayes as the dayes of man? and thy yeres as mans yeres?

That thou makest such inquisition for my wickednes, and searchest out my sinne?

Whereas thou knowest whether I shall do wickedly or no, and that none can deliuer me out of thyne hande.

Thy handes haue made me, & fashioned me altogether rounde about, wilt thou then destroy me?

Remember I besech thee that thou madest me as the moulde of the earth, and shalt bring me into dust againe.

Hast thou not powred me as it were milke, & turned me to cruddes like cheese?

Thou hast couered me with skinne and fleshe, and ioyned me together with bones and sinnowes.

Thou hast graunted me life, and done me good: and thy visitation hath preserued my spirite.

Thou hast hyd these thinges in thyne heart yet I am sure that thou remembrest this thing.

If I dyd sinne, thou haddest an eye vnto me, and shalt not pronounce me innocent from myne offence.

If I haue done wickedly, wo is me therefore: If I haue done righteously, yet dare I not lift vp my head, so full am I of confusion, and see myne owne miserie.

And let it increase, hunte me as a lion, & returne and shew thy selfe maruaylous vpon me.

Thou bringest freshe witnesse against me, and thy wrath increasest thou vpon me: diuers and many are the plagues that I am in.

Wherfore hast thou brought me out of the wombe? O that I had perished, and that no eye had seene me,

And that I were as though I had not ben, but brought from the wombe to the graue.

Are not my dayes fewe? Let him then leaue of fro me, and let me a lone, that I may comfort my selfe a litle,

Afore I go thyther from whence I shall not turne againe, euen to the lande of darknesse and shadowe of death:

Yea a lande as darke as darknesse it selfe, and into the shadowe of death where is none order, but the light is there as darknesse.