Job 10
The Voice
10 Job: I hate my life, so I will unload the full weight of my grievance against God.
Let me speak and reveal the bitterness I am harboring.
2 I will say to God: Don’t find me guilty;
just explain the charges You have against me.
3 Does it please You to oppress,
and is this why You spurn me, the work of Your hands,
and yet Your smile shines down upon the plots of the wicked?
4 Do You have human eyes so that Your outlook is short?
Do You see as through human frailties?
5 Are Your days like mortals’ limited days?
Are Your years like mortals’ limited years?
6 Is this why You seek out my faults
or You go in search of all my error?
7 You know well that I am not guilty,
yet nothing can free me from Your overwhelming power.
8 Your hands formed and made me whole,
yet now You turn to crush.
9 Recall how You molded me like clay.
Will You now render me back to dust?
10 Didn’t You pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11 Didn’t You clothe me in skin and flesh, weave my bone and sinew together?
12 Your care has saved my spirit,
and You have given me life and loyalty;
13 Yet I know what is in You,
what Your heart has always hidden.
14 If I sin, You see it, watching ever so closely,
and You do not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If I am wicked, woe is me;
even if I am innocent, I cannot take a chance and lift my head
Because I’m gorged with disgrace.
Gaze on my misery!
16 If I do raise my head,
then like a lion, You hunt me;
Like a night sky turned threatening,
You unfold Your power against me so that others marvel;
17 Like a prosecutor, You drag in witnesses against me;
You escalate Your fury against me, coming in waves to pound on me.
18 So then, why did You bother to drag me out of the womb at all?
I should have just died before any eye could see me.
19 It should have been as though I had never been:
plucked from the womb, carried to the tomb.
20 Aren’t my days almost finished anyway?
Stand back, leave me alone, and let me have a scrap of comfort
21 Before I go to the place from which I won’t return,
to the land of utter darkness and still shadows,
22 The land of deep, unending night,
of blackness and shadowy chaos
where the only illumination is more darkness.
Job 10
International Children’s Bible
10 “I hate my own life.
So I will complain without holding back.
And 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 own hands?
Are you happy with the plans of evil people?
4 Do you have human eyes?
Do you see as a man sees?
5 Are your days like the days of man?
Are your years like the years of a man?
6 You look for evil I have done
and search for my sin.
7 But you know I am not guilty.
And you know no one can save me from your power.
8 “Your hands shaped me and made me.
But now you turn around and destroy me.
9 Remember that you molded me like a piece of clay.
Now will you turn me back into dust?
10 You formed me in my mother’s womb
as cheese is formed from milk.
11 You put skin and flesh on me like clothing.
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 is what was in your mind:
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me.
You would not let my sin go unpunished.
15 How terrible it will be for me if I am guilty!
But even if I am right, I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame.
It is as if I am drowning in my pain.
16 If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion.
And again you show your terrible power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me.
You increase your anger against me.
Your armies come against me like waves of the sea.
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 been born.
Or I wish I had been carried straight from birth to the grave!
20 My few days of life are almost over.
Leave me alone so I can have a moment of joy.
21 Soon I will leave and not return.
I will go to the land of darkness and gloom.
22 It is the land of darkest night.
It is the land of gloom and confusion.
Even the light is darkness there.”
Job 10
King James Version
10 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
14 If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, 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 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
