1 | Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also
like the days of an hireling?
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2 | As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for
the reward of his work:
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3 | So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are
appointed to me.
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4 | When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am
full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
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5 | My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and
become loathsome.
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6 | My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
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7 | O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
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8 | The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are
upon me, and I am not.
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9 | As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the
grave shall come up no more.
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10 | He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any
more.
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11 | Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my
spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
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12 | Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
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13 | When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
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14 | Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
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15 | So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
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16 | I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are
vanity.
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17 | What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest
set thine heart upon him?
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18 | And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every
moment?
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19 | How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow
down my spittle?
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20 | I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why
hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
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21 | And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine
iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the
morning, but I shall not be.
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