Job 10
1 Weary in my soul, I will pour my words with groans upon him: I will speak being straitened in the bitterness of my soul.
My soul doth loathe my life, —I let loose my complaint, I speak, in the bitterness of my soul.
2 And I will say to the Lord, Do not teach me to be impious; and wherefore hast thou thus judged me?
I say unto GOD, Do not hold me guilty, Let me know, on what account thou contendest with me!
3 Is it good before thee if I be unrighteous? for thou hast disowned the work of thy hands, and attended to the counsel of the ungodly.
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 Or dost thou see as a mortal sees? or wilt thou look as a man sees?
Eyes of flesh, hast thou? or, as a mortal seeth, seest thou?
5 Or is thy life human, or thy years [the years] of a man,
As the days of a mortal, are thy days? or, thy years, as the days of a man?
6 that thou hast enquired into mine iniquity, and searched out my sins?
That thou shouldst seek for mine iniquity, and, for my sin, shouldst make search:
7 For thou knowest that I have not committed iniquity: but who is he that can deliver out of thy hands?
Though it is, within thine own knowledge, that I would not be lawless, and, none, out of thy hand, can deliver?
8 Thy hands have formed me and made me; afterwards thou didst change [thy mind], and smite me.
Thine own hands, shaped me, and made me, all in unison round about, and yet thou hast confounded me.
9 Remember that thou hast made me [as] clay, and thou dost turn me again to earth.
Remember, I pray thee, that, as clay, thou didst make me, and, unto dust, thou wilt cause me to return.
10 Hast thou not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Didst thou not, like milk, pour me forth? and, as cheese, curdle me?
11 And thou didst clothe me with skin and flesh, and frame me with bones and sinews.
With skin and flesh, clothe me? and, with bones and sinews, interweave me?
12 And thou didst bestow upon me life and mercy, and thy oversight has preserved my spirit.
Life and lovingkindness, thou didst bestow upon me, —and, thy watchful care, preserved my breath.
13 Having these things in thyself, I know that thou canst do all things; for nothing is impossible with thee.
Yet, these things, thou didst hide in thy heart, I know that, this, hath been with thee!
14 And if I should sin, thou watchest me; and thou hast not cleared me from iniquity.
If I have sinned, then couldst thou watch me, and, from mine iniquity, thou wouldst not acquit me:
15 Or if I should be ungodly, woe is me: and if I should be righteous, I cannot lift myself up, for I am full of dishonour.
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 For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter; for again thou hast changed and art terribly destroying me;
When it is lifted up, like a howling lion, thou dost hunt me, Then again thou dost shew thyself marvellous against me.
17 renewing against me my torture: and thou hast dealt with me in great anger, and thou hast brought trials upon me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses before me, and dost increase thy vexation with me, Relays—yea an army, is with me.
18 Why then didst thou bring me out of the womb? and why did I not die, and no eye see 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 I become as if I had not been? for why was I not carried from the womb to the grave?
As though I had not been, should I have become, —from the womb to the grave, might I have been borne.
20 Is not the time of my life short? suffer me to rest a little,
Are not my days, few?—then forbear, and set me aside, that I may brighten up for a little;
21 before I go whence I shall not return, to a land of darkness and gloominess;
Before I go, and not return, unto a land of darkness and death-shade:
22 to a land of perpetual darkness, where there is no light, neither [can any one] see the life of mortals.
A land of obscurity, like thick darkness, of death-shade and disorder, and which shineth like thick darkness.
