The Authorized Version (AV) which is also known as the King James Version (KJV) has it: "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth."

Some commentators think that the reference is to an illness which has caused the lamenter's teeth to fall out, such that he has left only his gums (which are a sort of skin to the teeth).

The New International Version (NIV) cheats (or at least hedges its bet) by offering "I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth" and then suggesting "with only my gums" as an alternative reading of the last half of the verse.

More likely the expression is colloquial in Hebrew, literally translated into English, where it became a literary reference and eventually colloquial, as well.

The Message, which is not a translation at all, but rather a paraphrase, suggests: "I'm nothing but a bag of bones; my life hangs by a thread."

Rather than translate the words literally, Peterson probably does the best job rendering the sense of the phrase in The Message.