< Job 10 >
1 My soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I am weary of my life; I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.
I will say to God, 'Do not merely condemn me; show me why you accuse me.
3 Doth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Is it good to you that you should oppress me, to despise the work of your hands while you smile on the plans of the wicked?
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see like a man sees?
5 Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,
Are your days like the days of mankind or your years like the years of people,
6 That thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;
that you inquire after my iniquity and search after my sin,
7 Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?
although you know I am not guilty and there is no one who can rescue me from your hand?
8 Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!
Your hands have framed and fashioned me together round about, yet you are destroying me.
9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.
Call to mind, I beg you, that you have fashioned me like clay; will you bring me into dust again?
10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Have you not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese?
11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;
You have clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;
You have granted me life and covenant faithfulness; your help has guarded my spirit.
13 And these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.
Yet these things you hid in your heart— I know that this is what you were thinking:
14 If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.
that if I sinned, you would notice it; you would not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being [so] full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; —
If I have acted wickedly, woe to me; and even if I acted righteously, I could not lift up my head, since I am filled with disgrace— see my affliction!
16 And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.
If my head were lifted up, you would stalk me like a lion; and again you would show yourself with marvellous acts of power against me.
17 Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions [of evil] and a time of toil are with me.
You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger against me; you attack me with fresh armies.
18 And wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.
Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up my spirit and that no eye had ever seen me.
19 I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
I would have been as though I had never existed; I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,
Are not my days only a few? Stop then, let me alone, so that I may have a little rest
21 Before I go, and never to return, — to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
before I go from where I will not return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,
22 A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.
the land that is as dark as midnight, the land of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is like midnight.'”