< Job 10 >

1 I am weary of my life; I will let loose within me 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! Show me wherefore thou contendest with me!
I will say to God, 'Do not merely condemn me; show me why you accuse me.
3 Is it a pleasure to thee to oppress, And to despise the work of thy hands, And to shine upon the plans 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 man, Are thy years as the days of a mortal,
Are your days like the days of mankind or your years like the years of people,
6 That thou seekest after my iniquity, And searchest after my sin,
that you inquire after my iniquity and search after my sin,
7 Though thou knowest that I am not guilty, And that none can deliver from thy hand?
although you know I am not guilty and there is no one who can rescue me from your hand?
8 Have thy hands completely fashioned and made me In every part, that thou mightst destroy me?
Your hands have framed and fashioned me together round about, yet you are destroying me.
9 O remember that thou hast moulded me as clay! And wilt thou bring me again to dust?
Call to mind, I beg you, that you have fashioned me like clay; will you bring me into dust again?
10 Thou didst pour me out as milk, And curdle me as cheese;
Have you not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese?
11 With skin and flesh didst thou clothe me, And strengthen me with bones and sinews;
You have clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 Thou didst grant me life and favor, And thy protection preserved my breath:
You have granted me life and covenant faithfulness; your help has guarded my spirit.
13 Yet these things thou didst lay up in thy heart! I know that this was in thy mind.
Yet these things you hid in your heart— I know that this is what you were thinking:
14 If I sin, then thou markest me, And wilt 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 am wicked, —then woe unto me! Yet if righteous, I dare not lift up my head; I am full of confusion, beholding my 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 If I lift it up, like a lion thou huntest me, And again showest thyself terrible unto 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 against me, And increasest thine anger toward me; New hosts continually rise up against me.
You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger against me; you attack me with fresh armies.
18 Why then didst thou bring me forth from the womb? I should have perished, 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 borne 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? O spare then, And let me alone, that I may be at ease a little while,
Are not my days only a few? Stop then, let me alone, so that I may have a little rest
21 Before I go— whence I shall not return—To the land of darkness and death-shade,
before I go from where I will not return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,
22 The land of darkness like the blackness of death-shade, Where is no order, and where the light is as 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.'”

< Job 10 >