<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I<n id="1" /> am weary<n id="2" /> of my life;p> <p class="poetry">I will complain without restraint;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.p>

<p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> have refused<n id="2" /> to touch such things;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they are like loathsome food to me.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">so that I<n id="1" /> would prefer<n id="2" /> strangling,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and<n id="4" /> death<n id="5" /> more<n id="6" /> than life.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;How long will you torment me<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and crush<n id="2" /> me with your words?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">so that his life loathes food,p> <p class="poetry">and his soul rejects appetizing fare.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">He<n id="1" /> draws near to the place of corruption,p> <p class="poetry">and his life to the messengers of death.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">They die<n id="1" /> in their youth,p> <p class="poetry">and their life ends among the male cultic prostitutes.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I also could speak<n id="1" /> like you,p> <p class="poetry">if<n id="2" /> you were in my place;p> <p class="poetry">I could pile up<n id="3" /> words against youp> <p class="poetry">and I could shake my head at you.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Why does God<n id="2" /> give<n id="3" /> light to one who is in misery,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and life to those<n id="5" /> whose soul is bitter,p>

<p class="poetry">I am blameless.<n id="1" /> I do not know myself.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I despise my life.p>

<p class="poetry">Why<n id="1" /> do I put myself in peril,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and take my life in my hands?p>

<p class="poetry">Only his flesh has pain for himself,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and he mourns for himself.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">And another man<n id="1" /> dies in bitterness of soul,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">never having tasted<n id="3" /> anything good.p>

<p class="poetry">But he is unchangeable,<n id="1" /> and who can change<n id="2" /> him?p> <p class="poetry">Whatever he<n id="3" /> has desired, he does.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;As surely as God lives,<n id="1" /> who has denied me justice,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the Almighty, who has made my life bitter<n id="3" /> &#8211;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;And now my soul pours itself out within me;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">days of suffering take hold of me.p>

<p class="poetry">Have I not wept for the unfortunate?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Was not my soul grieved for the poor?p>

<p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> have not even permitted my mouth<n id="2" /> to sinp> <p class="poetry">by asking<n id="3" /> for his life through a curse &#8211;p>

<p class="poetry">if I have eaten its produce without paying,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">or caused the death<n id="2" /> of its owners,<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">He spares a person&#8217;s life from corruption,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">his very life from crossing over<n id="2" /> the river.p>