Job 10
1 I hate my life! Let me speak freely about my complaints—I can't keep my bitterness to myself.
My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will tell God, “Don't just condemn me—tell me what you have against me.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 Do you enjoy accusing me? Why do you reject me, someone you made with your own hands, and yet smile on the scheming of the wicked?
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do you have human eyes? Do you see like human beings do?
Hast thou eyes of flesh, or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Is your life as short as mortal beings? Are your years as brief as those of humanity,
Are thy days as the days of man, or thy years as man’s days,
6 that you have to examine my wrongs and investigate my sins?
That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin,
7 Even though you know I'm not guilty, no one can save me from you.
Although thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand?
8 You made me and shaped me with your own hands, and yet you destroy me.
Thine hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
9 Remember that you shaped me like a piece of clay—are you now going to turn me back into dust?
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10 You poured me out like milk, you curdled me like cheese.
Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh; you wove my body together with bones and muscles.
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You granted me life and showed me your kindness; you have taken great care of me.
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
13 But you kept these things hidden in your heart. I know your purpose was
Yet these things thou didst hide in thine heart; I know that this is with thee:
14 to watch me, and if I sinned, then you would not forgive my wrongs.
If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15 If I'm guilty I'm in trouble, if I'm innocent I can't hold my head high because I'm totally disgraced as I look at my sufferings.
If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head; being filled with ignominy and looking upon mine affliction.
16 If I do hold my head high you hunt me down like a lion, showing how powerful you are in hurting me.
And if [my head] exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvelous upon me.
17 You repeat your arguments against me, you pour out more and more of your anger against me, you send fresh armies against me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and warfare are with me.
18 So why did you allow me to be born? I wish that I had died, and nobody had ever seen me!
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
19 It would have been better if I had never existed, taken straight from the womb to the grave.
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 I only have a few days left, so why don't you leave me alone so I can have a little peace
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 before I go to where I shall never return from, the land of darkness and the shadow of death—
Before I go whence I shall not return, [even] to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22 the land of total darkness where death's shadow lies, a place of chaos where light itself is darkness.”
A land of thick darkness, as darkness [itself]; [a land] of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
