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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
complaints; |
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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
my 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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