Tædet animam meam vitæ meæ; dimittam adversum me eloquium meum: loquar in amaritudine animæ meæ.

Oh, I am weary of life; I will speak out, come what may; my soul is too embit-tered for silence.

My soul is weary of my life, I will let go my speech against myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Dicam Deo: Noli me condemnare; indica mihi cur me ita judices.

I will protest against God’s sentence, demand to know why his judgement is so cruel.

I will say to God: Do not condemn me: tell me why thou judgest me so.

Numquid bonum tibi videtur, si calumnieris me, et opprimas me opus manuum tuarum, et consilium impiorum adjuves?

Is it well done in thee to play the tyrant, to spurn me, the creature of thy own hands, to smile on the ill designs of the godless?

Doth it seem good to thee that thou shouldst calumniate me, and oppress me, the work of thy own hands, and help the counsel of the wicked?

Numquid oculi carnei tibi sunt? aut sicut videt homo, et tu videbis?

Are those eyes of thine human after all; is thy sight, too, blinded, like the sight of men?

Hast thou eyes of flesh: or, shalt thou see as man seeth?

Numquid sicut dies hominis dies tui, et anni tui sicut humana sunt tempora,

Hast thou a mortal’s span of life, a destiny brief as ours,

Are thy days as the days of man, and are thy years as the times of men:

ut quæras iniquitatem meam, et peccatum meum scruteris,

that thou must search for faults in me, labour to convict me of wrong done,

That thou shouldst inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

et scias quia nihil impium fecerim, cum sit nemo qui de manu tua possit eruere?

when thou knowest full well that I am innocent, knowest that I am in thy power beyond hope of rescue?

And shouldst know that I have done no wicked thing, whereas there is no man that can deliver out of thy hand.

Manus tuæ fecerunt me, et plasmaverunt me totum in circuitu: et sic repente præcipitas me?

It was thy hand that made me, no part of me but is thy fashioning; and wilt thou cast me aside all in a moment?

Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about, and dost thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden?

Memento, quæso, quod sicut lutum feceris me, et in pulverem reduces me.

Thou the craftsman, though of clay thy handiwork, and must all be ground to dust again?

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and thou wilt bring me into dust again.

Nonne sicut lac mulsisti me, et sicut caseum me coagulasti?

Milk of thy milking, cheese of thy pressing,

Hast thou not milked me as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Pelle et carnibus vestisti me; ossibus et nervis compegisti me.

were flesh and skin that clothed me, bone and sinew that built up my frame;

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh: thou hast put me together with bones and sinews:

Vitam et misericordiam tribuisti mihi, et visitatio tua custodivit spiritum meum.

the life given by thee, by thee was spared; thy vigilance was all my safety.

Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

Licet hæc celes in corde tuo, tamen scio quia universorum memineris.

Only in thy heart the memory of this is stored, but I know thou hast not forgotten.

Although thou conceal these things in thy heart, yet I know that thou rememberest all things.

Si peccavi, et ad horam pepercisti mihi, cur ab iniquitate mea mundum me esse non pateris?

And was it thy purpose to spare me for a little, if I sinned, but absolve me never?

If I have sinned and thou hast spared me for an hour: why dost thou not suffer me to be clean from my iniquity?

Et si impius fuero, væ mihi est; et si justus, non levabo caput, saturatus afflictione et miseria.

Woe to me, if I rebelled against thee! And if I remained innocent, what then? Why, I would be drowned in misery and despair till I could lift up my head no more!

And if I be wicked, woe unto me: and if just, I shall not lift up my head, being filled with affliction and misery.

Et propter superbiam quasi leænam capies me, reversusque mirabiliter me crucias.

Or if I did, that were pride in me, to be hunted down as a lioness is hunted; thou wouldst devise fresh miracles of torment;

And for pride thou wilt take me as a lioness, and returning thou tormentest me wonderfully.

Instauras testes tuos contra me, et multiplicas iram tuam adversum me, et pœnæ militant in me.

wouldst bring fresh witnesses against me, redouble thy avenging strokes, array against me a new host of punishments.

Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and multipliest thy wrath upon me, and pains war against me.

Quare de vulva eduxisti me? qui utinam consumptus essem, ne oculus me videret.

Why didst thou ever take me from the womb; why could I not perish there, never to meet men’s eyes;

Why didst thou bring me forth out of the womb: O that I had been consumed that eye might not see me!

Fuissem quasi non essem, de utero translatus ad tumulum.

a being without being, carried from womb to tomb?

I should have been as if I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

Numquid non paucitas dierum meorum finietur brevi? dimitte ergo me, ut plangam paululum dolorem meum,

Brief, brief is my span of days; for a little leave me to myself, to find some comfort in my misery.

Shall not the fewness of my days be ended shortly? suffer me, therefore, that I may lament my sorrow a little:

antequam vadam, et non revertar, ad terram tenebrosam, et opertam mortis caligine:

Soon I must go to a land whence there is no returning, a land of darkness, death’s shadow over it;

Before I go, and return no more, to a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death:

terram miseriæ et tenebrarum, ubi umbra mortis et nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat.

a land of gloomy night, where death’s shadow lies over all, and no peace haunts it, only everlasting dread.

A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth.