< 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 has been weary of my life, I leave off my talking to myself, I 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 say to God, Do not condemn me, Let me know why You strive [with] 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 good for You that You oppress? That You despise the labor of Your hands, And shine on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?
Do you have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,
[Are] Your days as the days of man? Your years as the days of a man?
6 That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,
That You inquire for my iniquity, And seek for 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?
For You know that I am not wicked, And there is no deliverer from Your hand.
8 Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.
Your hands have taken pains about me, And they make me together all around, And You swallow me up!
9 O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?
Please remember That You have made me as clay, And You bring me back to dust.
10 Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?
Do You not pour me out as milk? And curdle me as cheese?
11 By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.
Skin and flesh You put on me, And fence me with bones and sinews.
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 You have done with me. And Your inspection has preserved my spirit.
13 But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
And these You have laid up in Your heart, I have known that this [is] with You.
14 That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:
If I sinned, then You have observed me, And do not acquit me from my iniquity,
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 have done wickedly—woe to me, And righteously—I do not lift up my head, Full of shame—then see 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 rises—as a lion You hunt me. And You turn back—You show Yourself wonderful in me.
17 That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.
You renew Your witnesses against me, and multiply Your anger with me, Changes and warfare [are] with 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,
And why from the womb Have You brought me forth? I expire, and the eye does not see 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.
I am as [if] I had not been, I am brought from the belly 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,
Are my days not few? Cease then, and put from me, And I brighten up 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 do not return, To a land of darkness and death-shade,
22 A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.
A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade—and no order, And the shining [is] as thick darkness.”

< Job 10 >