¹ “Is not man’s life on earth an exhausting one,
    and are not his days like those of a hired laborer?
² Like a slave who sighs for the evening shade
    and like a laborer who is bent upon his wages,
³ so have I been forced to endure months of futility,
    and nights of grief have been inflicted on me.
⁴ “When I lie in bed, I wonder,
    ‘When will the daylight come so that I may rise?’
But the night drags on,
    and I toss restlessly until the dawn.
⁵ My body is infected with worms and scabs;
    my skin is cracked and festering.

⁶ “My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle,
    and they come to an end without a glimmer of hope.
⁷ “Remember that my life is but a breath of wind;
    my eyes will never again see happiness.
⁸ The eye that now sees me will see me no more;
    I will vanish before your very eyes.
⁹ As a cloud vanishes and is no more,
    so the one who descends to the netherworld^[c] will never come up again.
¹⁰ He will never again return to his home,
    nor will he be remembered anymore.