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10 “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 will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.
    Show me why you contend with me.
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?
Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Or do you see as man sees?
Are your days as the days of mortals,
    or your years as man’s years,
that you inquire after my iniquity,
    and search after my sin?
Although you know that I am not wicked,
    there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,
    yet you destroy me.
Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
    Will you bring me into dust again?
10 Haven’t you poured me out like milk,
    and curdled me like cheese?
11 You have 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.
13 Yet you hid these things in your heart.
    I know that this is with you:
14 if I sin, then you mark me.
    You will not acquit me from 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.
16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
    Again you show yourself powerful to me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me,
    and increase your indignation on me.
    Changes and warfare are with me.

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.
19 I should have been as though I had not been.
    I should have 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,
21     before I go where I will not return from,
    to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22 the land dark as midnight,
    of the shadow of death,
    without any order,
    where the light is as midnight.’”

Job Asks God to Acquit Him

10 “I am disgusted with living,
    so I’m going to talk about my complaint freely.
        I’ll speak out from the bitterness of my soul.
I’ll say to God,
    ‘Don’t condemn me!
        Let me know why you are fighting me.
Does it delight you to oppress
    or despise what you have made,
        while you smile at the plans of the wicked?[a]
Do you have eyes made of flesh?
    Can you look at things as humans do?
Can you live only as long as a human being?
    Or live the years[b] of a mortal man?

“‘For you seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin.
Although you know that I’m not guilty,
    there’s no one to deliver me from you![c]
Your hands formed and fashioned me,
    but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides.

“‘Please remember that you’ve made me like clay
    and you’ll return me to dust.
10 Didn’t you pour me out like milk
    and let me congeal like cheese?
11 You covered me with skin and flesh,
    weaving me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave life and gracious love to me;
    your providential care has preserved my spirit.
13 But you’ve hidden these things in your heart—
    I know this was your purpose:[d]
14 If I sin, you watch me
    and won’t acquit me for my iniquity.

15 “‘Woe to me if I’m guilty!
    If I’m innocent, I cannot lift my head,
because I am filled with disgrace.
    Look at my affliction!
16 But if I do lift up my head,
    you will hunt me like a lion!
        You will perform miracles in order to fight against me.

17 “‘You have brought new witnesses against me,
    you’re even more angry with me—
        you’ve brought fresh troops to attack me!
18 So why did you bring me out from the womb?
    I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me,
19 as if I had never existed;
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20 My days are so few, aren’t they?
    So leave me alone, then,
        so I can smile a little
21 before I go, never to return,
    leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow.
22 It’s a gloomy land, like deepest darkness;
    where there’s no order,
        and where even[e] the brightness is like darkness.’”

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:3 Lit. you cause the plans of the wicked to shine
  2. Job 10:5 Lit. days
  3. Job 10:7 Lit. from your hand
  4. Job 10:13 Or was in you
  5. Job 10:22 The Heb. lacks even