Job 10
1 “I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I hate my life! Let me speak freely about my complaints—I can't keep my bitterness to myself.
2 I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
I will tell God, “Don't just condemn me—tell me what you have against me.
3 Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
Do you enjoy accusing me? Why do you reject me, someone you made with your own hands, and yet smile on the scheming of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
Do you have human eyes? Do you see like human beings do?
5 Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,
Is your life as short as mortal beings? Are your years as brief as those of humanity,
6 that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
that you have to examine my wrongs and investigate my sins?
7 though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
Even though you know I'm not guilty, no one can save me from you.
8 Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
You made me and shaped me with your own hands, and yet you destroy me.
9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
Remember that you shaped me like a piece of clay—are you now going to turn me back into dust?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
You poured me out like milk, you curdled me like cheese.
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You clothed me with skin and flesh; you wove my body together with bones and muscles.
12 You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
You granted me life and showed me your kindness; you have taken great care of me.
13 Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:
But you kept these things hidden in your heart. I know your purpose was
14 If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
to watch me, and if I sinned, then you would not forgive my wrongs.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
If I'm guilty I'm in trouble, if I'm innocent I can't hold my head high because I'm totally disgraced as I look at my sufferings.
16 Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
If I do hold my head high you hunt me down like a lion, showing how powerful you are in hurting me.
17 You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
You repeat your arguments against me, you pour out more and more of your anger against me, you send fresh armies against me.
18 Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
So why did you allow me to be born? I wish that I had died, and nobody had ever seen me!
19 If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
It would have been better if I had never existed, taken straight from the womb to the grave.
20 Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
I only have a few days left, so why don't you leave me alone so I can have a little peace
21 before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom,
before I go to where I shall never return from, the land of darkness and the shadow of death—
22 to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
the land of total darkness where death's shadow lies, a place of chaos where light itself is darkness.”
