Job 10 New King James Version

Job: I Would Plead with God

10 “My ^(A)soul loathes my life;
I will ^[a]give free course to my complaint,
^(B)I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
²I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.
³Does it seem good to You that You should oppress,
That You should despise the work of Your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
⁴Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or ^(C)do You see as man sees?
⁵Are Your days like the days of a mortal man?
Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,
⁶That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
⁷Although You know that I am not wicked,
And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

⁸‘Your^(D) hands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
Yet You would ^(E)destroy me.
⁹Remember, I pray, ^(F)that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
¹⁰^(G)Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
¹¹Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
¹²You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
¹⁴If I sin, then ^(H)You mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵If I am wicked, ^(I)woe to me;
^(J)Even if I am righteous, I ^[b]cannot lift up my head.
I am full of disgrace;
^(K)See my misery!
¹⁶If my head is exalted,
^(L)You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
¹⁷You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war are ever with me.

¹⁸‘Why^(M) then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
¹⁹I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰^(N)Are not my days few?
Cease! ^(O)Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
²¹Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,
^(P)To the land of darkness ^(Q)and the shadow of death,
²²A land as dark as darkness itself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”