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 doth loathe my life, —I let loose my complaint, 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 unto GOD, Do not hold me guilty, Let me know, on what account thou contendest 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 seemly in thee, that thou shouldst oppress? that thou shouldst despise the labour of thine own hand, when, upon the counsel of the lawless, thou hast shone?
4 Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?
Eyes of flesh, hast thou? or, as a mortal seeth, seest thou?
5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,
As the days of a mortal, are thy days? or, thy years, as the days of a man?
6 That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,
That thou shouldst seek for mine iniquity, and, for my sin, shouldst make search:
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?
Though it is, within thine own knowledge, that I would not be lawless, and, none, out of thy hand, can deliver?
8 Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.
Thine own hands, shaped me, and made me, all in unison round about, and yet thou hast confounded me.
9 O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?
Remember, I pray thee, that, as clay, thou didst make me, and, unto dust, thou wilt cause me to return.
10 Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?
Didst thou not, like milk, pour me forth? and, as cheese, curdle me?
11 By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.
With skin and flesh, clothe me? and, with bones and sinews, interweave 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 lovingkindness, thou didst bestow upon me, —and, thy watchful care, preserved my breath.
13 But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
Yet, these things, thou didst hide in thy heart, I know that, this, hath been with 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 couldst thou watch me, and, from mine iniquity, thou wouldst not acquit me:
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 been lawless, alas for me! Or, if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, Surfeited with shame, look thou then on my humiliation.
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:
When it is lifted up, like a howling lion, thou dost hunt me, Then again thou dost shew thyself marvellous against me.
17 That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses before me, and dost increase thy vexation with me, Relays—yea an army, is 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,
Wherefore then, from the womb, didst thou bring me forth? I might have breathed my last, and, no eye, have 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.
As though I had not been, should I have become, —from the womb to the grave, might I have been borne.
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 not my days, few?—then forbear, and set me aside, that I may brighten up for 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 not return, unto 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, like thick darkness, of death-shade and disorder, and which shineth like thick darkness.
