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 loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years,
Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,
6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
8 “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
10 Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:
Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:
14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.
Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
18 “‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Aren’t my days few? Stop! Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
21 before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom,
22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”
to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
