Job 10
Living Bible
10 “I am weary of living. Let me complain freely. I will speak in my sorrow and bitterness. 2 I will say to God, ‘Don’t just condemn me—tell me why you are doing it. 3 Does it really seem right to you to oppress and despise me, a man you have made; and to send joy and prosperity to the wicked? 4-7 Are you unjust[a] like men? Is your life so short that you must hound me for sins you know full well I’ve not committed? Is it because you know no one can save me from your hand?
8 “‘You have made me, and yet you destroy me. 9 Oh, please remember that I’m made of dust—will you change me back again to dust so soon? 10 You have already poured me from bottle to bottle like milk and curdled me like cheese. 11 You gave me skin and flesh and knit together bones and sinews. 12 You gave me life and were so kind and loving to me, and I was preserved by your care.
13-14 “‘Yet all the time your real motive in making me was to destroy me if I sinned, and to refuse to forgive my iniquity. 15 Just the slightest wickedness, and I am done for. And if I’m good, that doesn’t count. I am filled with frustration. 16 If I start to get up off the ground, you leap upon me like a lion and quickly finish me off. 17 Again and again you witness against me and pour out an ever-increasing volume of wrath upon me and bring fresh armies against me.
18 “‘Why then did you even let me be born? Why didn’t you let me die at birth? 19 Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave. 20-21 Can’t you see how little time I have left? Oh, leave me alone that I may have a little moment of comfort before I leave for the land of darkness and the shadow of death, never to return— 22 a land as dark as midnight, a land of the shadow of death where only confusion reigns and where the brightest light is dark as midnight.’”
Footnotes
- Job 10:4 Are you unjust, literally, “Have you the eyes of flesh?”
Job 10
New Century Version
10 “I hate my life,
so I will complain without holding back;
I will speak because I am so unhappy.
2 I will say to God: Do not hold me guilty,
but tell me what you have against me.
3 Does it make you happy to trouble me?
Don’t you care about me, the work of your hands?
Are you happy with the plans of evil people?
4 Do you have human eyes
that see as we see?
5 Are your days like the days of humans,
and your years like our years?
6 You look for the evil I have done
and search for my sin.
7 You know I am not guilty,
but no one can save me from your power.
8 “Your hands shaped and made me.
Do you now turn around and destroy me?
9 Remember that you molded me like a piece of clay.
Will you now turn me back into dust?
10 You formed me inside my mother
like cheese formed from milk.
11 You dressed me with skin and flesh;
you sewed me together with bones and muscles.
12 You gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your care you watched over my life.
13 “But in your heart you hid other plans.
I know this was in your mind.
14 If I sinned, you would watch me
and would not let my sin go unpunished.
15 How terrible it will be for me if I am guilty!
Even if I am right, I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame
and experience only pain.
16 If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion
and again show your terrible power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger against me.
Your armies come against me.
18 “So why did you allow me to be born?
I wish I had died before anyone saw me.
19 I wish I had never lived,
but had been carried straight from birth to the grave.
20 The few days of my life are almost over.
Leave me alone so I can have a moment of joy.
21 Soon I will leave; I will not return
from the land of darkness and gloom,
22 the land of darkest night,
from the land of gloom and confusion,
where even the light is darkness.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
