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Chapter 10

I will give myself up to complaint;
    I will speak from the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong!
    Let me know why you oppose me.
[a]Is it a pleasure for you to oppress,
    to spurn the work of your hands,
    and shine on the plan of the wicked?
Have you eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as mortals see?
Are your days like the days of a mortal,(A)
    and are your years like a human lifetime,
That you seek for guilt in me
    and search after my sins,
Even though you know that I am not wicked,(B)
    and that none can deliver me out of your hand?
Your hands have formed me and fashioned me;
    will you then turn and destroy me?
Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay!(C)
    Will you then bring me down to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk,
    and thicken me like cheese?
11 With skin and flesh you clothed me,
    with bones and sinews knit me together.
12 Life and love you granted me,
    and your providence has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you have hidden in your heart;
    I know they are your purpose:
14 If I should sin, you would keep a watch on me,
    and from my guilt you would not absolve me.
15 If I should be wicked, alas for me!
    even if righteous, I dare not hold up my head,
    sated with shame, drenched in affliction!
16 Should it lift up, you hunt me like a lion:
    repeatedly you show your wondrous power against me,
17 You renew your attack[b] upon me
    and multiply your harassment of me;
    in waves your troops come against me.
18 Why then did you bring me forth from the womb?(D)
    I should have died and no eye have seen me.
19 I should be as though I had never lived;
    I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Stop!
    Let me alone, that I may recover a little
21 Before I go whence I shall not return,(E)
    to the land of darkness and of gloom,
22 The dark, disordered land
    where darkness is the only light.

Footnotes

  1. 10:3–12 These lines are a delicate mixture of sarcasm and prayer; Job “reminds” God, challenging the divine providence. Note the piteous tone of the final request in vv. 20–22.
  2. 10:17 Attack: or “witnesses,” continuing the metaphor of lawsuit used in these chapters.

Job Continues His Response to Bildad

10 “My inner self[a] loathes my life;
I want to give vent to my complaint;[b]
I want to speak out of the bitterness of my inner self.[c]
I will say to God, ‘You should not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
Is it good for you that you oppress,
that you despise the labor of your hands,
and you smile over the schemes of the wicked?
Do you have eyes of flesh?[d]
Or do you see as human beings see?[e]
Are your days as the days of human beings,
or your years as the days of man,
that you seek out my iniquity,
and you search for my sin
because of your knowledge that I am not guilty,
and there is no escaping from your hand?
Your hands fashioned me and made me[f] altogether,[g]
then[h] you destroyed me.
Please[i] remember that you made me like clay,
but[j] you turn me into dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me[k] like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and you knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and loyal love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 “‘Yet[l] you hid these things in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.[m]
14 If I had sinned, then[n] you would be watching me,
and you would not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me!
But[o] if I am righteous, I dare not lift my head;
I am filled with shame, and just look at my misery!
16 And if my head grows bold, you would hunt me as the lion in its prime;
and you repeat your exploits against me.[p]
17 You renew your witnesses against me,
and you increase your vexation against me;
relief forces[q] are against me.
18 So[r] why did you bring me forth from the womb?
I should have passed away, and no eye should have seen me.[s]
19 I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been brought from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Let him leave me alone;
let him turn from me, and let me rejoice a little.
21 Before I go—and I will not return—
to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
22 to the land of darkness,
like the darkness of a deep shadow and chaos,[t]
so that[u] it shines forth like darkness.’”

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:1 Or “soul”
  2. Job 10:1 Literally “I want to let go upon me my complaint”
  3. Job 10:1 Or “soul”
  4. Job 10:4 Literally “Are eyes of flesh for you”
  5. Job 10:4 Literally “as seeing of human beings you see”
  6. Job 10:8 Hebrew “they made me”
  7. Job 10:8 Literally “together all around”
  8. Job 10:8 Or “and”
  9. Job 10:9 Or an untranslatable particle expressing urgency
  10. Job 10:9 Hebrew “and”
  11. Job 10:10 Literally “you did curdle me”
  12. Job 10:13 Hebrew “And”
  13. Job 10:13 Literally “was with you”
  14. Job 10:14 Hebrew “and”
  15. Job 10:15 Hebrew “And”
  16. Job 10:16 Literally “and you do again you display marvelous powers against me”
  17. Job 10:17 Literally “substitute and forces
  18. Job 10:18 Hebrew “And”
  19. Job 10:18 Literally “and an eye should not have seen me”
  20. Job 10:22 Literally “and not order”
  21. Job 10:22 Or “and”