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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 Frames His Plea to God

10 “I am disgusted with my life.
    Let me complain freely.
    My bitter soul must complain.
I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me—
    tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
What do you gain by oppressing me?
    Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands,
    while smiling on the schemes of the wicked?
Are your eyes like those of a human?
    Do you see things only as people see them?
Is your lifetime only as long as ours?
    Is your life so short
that you must quickly probe for my guilt
    and search for my sin?
Although you know I am not guilty,
    no one can rescue me from your hands.

“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me,
    yet now you completely destroy me.
Remember that you made me from dust—
    will you turn me back to dust so soon?
10 You guided my conception
    and formed me in the womb.[a]
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and you knit my bones and sinews together.
12 You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.
    My life was preserved by your care.

13 “‘Yet your real motive—
    your true intent—
14 was to watch me, and if I sinned,
    you would not forgive my guilt.
15 If I am guilty, too bad for me;
    and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high,
    because I am filled with shame and misery.
16 And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion
    and display your awesome power against me.
17 Again and again you witness against me.
    You pour out your growing anger on me
    and bring fresh armies against me.

18 “‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb?
    Why didn’t you let me die at birth?
19 It would be as though I had never existed,
    going directly from the womb to the grave.
20 I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,
    that I may have a moment of comfort
21 before I leave—never to return—
    for the land of darkness and utter gloom.
22 It is a land as dark as midnight,
    a land of gloom and confusion,
    where even the light is dark as midnight.’”

Footnotes

  1. 10:10 Hebrew You poured me out like milk / and curdled me like cheese.