< Job 10 >

1 “My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I am weary of my life; I will let loose within me my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me! Show me wherefore thou contendest with me!
3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Is it a pleasure to thee to oppress, And to despise the work of thy hands, And to shine upon the plans of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
Hast thou eyes of flesh, Or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years,
Are thy days as the days of a man, Are thy years as the days of a mortal,
6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
That thou seekest after my iniquity, And searchest after my sin,
7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
Though thou knowest that I am not guilty, And that none can deliver from thy hand?
8 “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
Have thy hands completely fashioned and made me In every part, that thou mightst destroy me?
9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
O remember that thou hast moulded me as clay! And wilt thou bring me again to dust?
10 Have not you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Thou didst pour me out as milk, And curdle me as cheese;
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
With skin and flesh didst thou clothe me, And strengthen me with bones and sinews;
12 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
Thou didst grant me life and favor, And thy protection preserved my breath:
13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:
Yet these things thou didst lay up in thy heart! I know that this was in thy mind.
14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
If I sin, then thou markest me, And wilt not acquit me of mine iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
If I am wicked, —then woe unto me! Yet if righteous, I dare not lift up my head; I am full of confusion, beholding my affliction.
16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.
If I lift it up, like a lion thou huntest me, And again showest thyself terrible unto me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, And increasest thine anger toward me; New hosts continually rise up against me.
18 “‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
Why then didst thou bring me forth from the womb? I should have perished, and no eye had seen me;
19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
I should be as though I had not been; I should have been borne from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Stop! Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
Are not my days few? O spare then, And let me alone, that I may be at ease a little while,
21 before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
Before I go— whence I shall not return—To the land of darkness and death-shade,
22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”
The land of darkness like the blackness of death-shade, Where is no order, and where the light is as darkness.

< Job 10 >