< Job 10 >
1 My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.
My soul is disgusted with my life; I will give free vent to my complaint over myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; let me know for what cause thou contendest against me.
3 What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?
Is it well for thee that thou shouldst oppress, that thou shouldst reject the labor of thy hands, and shed light upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or wilt thou see as a mortal seeth?
5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,
Are thy days as the days of a mortal, or are thy years as the days of a man,
6 That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,
That thou inquirest after my iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?
Still it is within thy knowledge that I am not wicked, and there is none that can deliver me out of thy hand.
8 Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.
Thy hands have carefully fashioned me and made me; every thing is in harmony all round about; and yet thou dost destroy me!
9 O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?
Remember, I beseech thee, that as though I were clay hast thou made me; and wilt thou cause me to return again unto the dust?
10 Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?
Behold, like milk didst thou pour me out, and like cheese didst thou curdle me.
11 By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.
With skin and flesh didst thou clothe me, and with bones and sinews didst thou cover me.
12 You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.
Life and kindness didst thou grant me, and thy providence watched over my spirit.
13 But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
And yet these things hadst thou treasured up in thy heart: I know that this was [resolved] within thee.
14 That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:
If I have sinned, then dost thou watch me, and from my iniquity thou wilt not declare me guiltless.
15 That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.
If I be wicked, woe unto me: and if I be righteous, I can still not lift up my head; I am sated with disgrace, and ever seeing my affliction;
16 And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:
And it constantly increaseth; like a fierce lion dost thou hunt for me; and again thou showest thyself continually wonderful on me;
17 That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.
Thou ever renewest thy witnesses against me, and causest thy indignation to grow strong against me; changes and multitudes [of sufferings] are around me.
18 Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,
Wherefore then didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had perished, and that no eye had seen me!
19 And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.
That I were as though I had not been, —had been borne from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,
Lo! my days are but few: cease, then, withdraw from me [thy hand], that I may recover my cheerfulness a little.
21 Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,
Before I go, and return not, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22 A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.
A land of utter gloom, as of the darkness of the shadow of death, without any order, and the light of which is like utter gloom.