人在地上岂无劳役？他的日子岂不像雇工的日子？
Does not man have a term of hard service on earth? / And are his days not like the days of a hired hand?

正像奴仆切慕遮荫，又像雇工盼望工价，
Like a servant who longs for the shade, / And like a hired hand who waits for his pay,

我也照样承受虚空的岁月，有苦难的黑夜为我派定。
So I am made to inherit months of vanity, / And nights of trouble are appointed to me.

我躺卧的时候，便说，我何时起来？但黑夜漫长，我尽是翻来覆去，直到天亮。
If I lie down, I say, / When will I arise? But the evening is long, / And I am full of tossings until the dawn.

我的肉体以虫子和尘土为衣；我的皮肤才收了口，又重新流脓。
My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt clods; / My skin crusts and then oozes again.

我的日子比梭更快，都消耗在无指望之中。
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle / And are spent without hope.

求你记念，我的生命不过是一口气；我的眼睛必不再见福乐。
Remember that my life is a breath; / My eye will not see good again.

观看我的人，他的眼必不再见我；你的眼目要看我，我却不在了。
The eye of him who sees me will not look on me; / Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.

云彩消散而去，照样，人下阴间也不再上来。
The cloud is consumed and goes away: / Likewise he who goes down into Sheol does not come up.

他不再回自己的家，他本地也不再认识他。
He returns no more to his house, / Nor does his place know him anymore.

至于我，我也不禁止我口；我灵困苦，我要发出言语；我魂苦恼，我要吐露哀情。
For my part, I also will not restrain my mouth; / I will speak in the distress of my spirit; / I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

我岂是洋海，岂是大鱼，你竟防守我呢？
Am I the sea, or a sea serpent, / That You must set a watch over me?

当我说，我的床必安慰我，我的榻必承担我的苦情；
When I say, My bed will comfort me, / My couch will bear up my complaint;

你就用梦惊骇我，用异象惊吓我；
Then You scare me with dreams / And terrify me with visions,

以致我宁肯窒息而死，宁肯死亡，胜似留我这一身的骨头。
So that my soul would choose strangulation / And death rather than my bones.

我厌弃性命，不愿永远活着；你任凭我吧，因我的日子不过是一口气。
I loathe life; I would not live forever. / Leave me alone, for my days are a mere breath.

人算什么，你竟看他为大，将他放在心上，
What is mortal man that You magnify him, / And that You consider him,

每早晨察访他，每时刻试验他？
And that You visit him every morning, / You try him every moment?

你到何时才转眼不看我，才任凭我咽下唾沫呢？
How long before You look away from me, / Before You abandon me until I swallow my spittle?

察看人的主啊，我若有罪，于你何妨？为何将我当作攻击的对象，使我成为你的重担呢？
If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O Watcher of man? / Why have You made me Your target so that I have become a burden to You?

为何不赦免我的过犯，除掉我的罪孽？我现今要躺卧在尘土中；你要殷勤地寻找我，我却不在了。
And why do You not forgive my transgression / And take away my iniquity? / For now I may lie down in the dust; / And You will seek me out, and I will not be.