Job 10
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
Job: I Loathe My Life
10 ‘I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favour the schemes of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as humans see?
5 Are your days like the days of mortals,
or your years like human years,
6 that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands fashioned and made me;
and now you turn and destroy me.[a]
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me,
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look upon my affliction.
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your vexation towards me;
you bring fresh troops against me.[b]
18 ‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19 and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?[c]
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort[d]
21 before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom[e] and chaos,
where light is like darkness.’
Footnotes
- Job 10:8 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb made me together all around, and you destroy me
- Job 10:17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb towards me; changes and a troop are with me
- Job 10:20 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb Are not my days few? Let him cease!
- Job 10:20 Heb that I may brighten up a little
- Job 10:22 Heb gloom as darkness, deep darkness
Job 10
Expanded Bible
10 “I ·hate [am disgusted with] my life,
so I will ·complain without holding back [L abandon myself to my sighs];
I will speak ·because I am so unhappy [L in my bitterness].
2 I will say to God: Do not ·hold [declare] me guilty,
but tell me ·what you have against [why you accuse] me.
3 ·Does it make you happy [or Is it right for you] to ·trouble [oppress] me?
·Don’t you care about [L Must you despise] me, the work of your hands?
·Are you happy with [or Do you favor] the plans of evil people?
4 Do you have ·human eyes [L eyes of flesh]
that see ·as we see [L with human vision]?
5 Are your days like the days of humans,
and your years like our years?
6 [L For] You ·look for the evil I have done [L investigate my transgression]
and search for my sin.
7 You know I am not guilty,
but no one can ·save [rescue] me from your ·power [L hand].
8 “Your hands shaped and made me.
Do you now turn around and ·destroy [L swallow] me?
9 Remember that you molded me like a piece of clay.
Will you now turn me back into dust [Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7]?
10 ·You formed me inside my mother
like cheese formed from milk [L Do you not pour me out like milk, curdle me like cheese?].
11 You dressed me with skin and flesh;
you ·sewed [knit] me together with bones and ·muscles [sinews].
12 You gave me life and showed me ·kindness [loyalty],
and in your care you ·watched over my life [L set a watch over me].
13 “But in your heart you hid ·other plans [L these things].
I know this was in your mind.
14 If I sinned, you would watch me
and would not ·let my sin go unpunished [L declare me innocent of my transgression].
15 ·How terrible it will be for [L Woe to] me if I am guilty!
Even if I am ·right [righteous], I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame
and ·experience [L look on] only ·pain [affliction].
16 ·If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion [or Proud like a lion you hunt me]
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 [L bring me out of the womb]?
·I wish I had died [L Why did I not die…?] before ·anyone [L any eye] saw me.
19 I wish I had never lived,
but had been carried straight from ·birth [L womb] to the grave.
20 The few days of my life are almost over.
Leave me alone so I can have a moment of joy [Eccl. 2:24–26; 3:12–14, 22; 8:15; 5:19–20; 9:7–10].
21 Soon I will leave; I will not return
from the land of darkness and gloom,
22 the land of ·darkest night [or dimness and blackness],
from the land of gloom and ·confusion [chaos],
where even the light is darkness.”
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.