Job 9:23-10:22

English Standard Version

²³When ^(A)disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity^[a] of the innocent.
²⁴^(B)The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he ^(C)covers the faces of its judges—
    ^(D)if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My ^(E)days are swifter than ^(F)a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶They go by like ^(G)skiffs of reed,
    like ^(H)an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷If I say, ^(I)‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will put off my sad face, and ^(J)be of good cheer,’
²⁸I become ^(K)afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not ^(L)hold me innocent.
²⁹I shall be ^(M)condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰If I wash myself with snow
    and ^(N)cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,
    and my own clothes will ^(O)abhor me.
³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should ^(P)come to trial together.
³³^(Q)There is no^[b] arbiter between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴^(R)Let him take his ^(S)rod away from me,
    and let ^(T)not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I am not so in myself.

Job Continues: A Plea to God

10 “I ^(U)loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my ^(V)complaint;
    I will speak in ^(W)the bitterness of my soul.
²I will say to God, Do not ^(X)condemn me;
    let me know why you ^(Y)contend against me.
³^(Z)Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise ^(AA)the work of your hands
    ^(AB)and favor the designs of the wicked?
⁴Have you ^(AC)eyes of flesh?
    ^(AD)Do you see as man sees?
⁵Are your days as the days of man,
    or your ^(AE)years as a man's years,
⁶that you ^(AF)seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
⁷although you ^(AG)know that I am not guilty,
    and there is ^(AH)none to deliver out of your hand?
⁸^(AI)Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.
⁹Remember that you have made me like ^(AJ)clay;
    and will you return me to the ^(AK)dust?
¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love,
    and your care has preserved my spirit.
¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart;
    I know that ^(AL)this was your purpose.
¹⁴If I sin, you ^(AM)watch me
    and do not ^(AN)acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵^(AO)If I am guilty, woe to me!
    If I am ^(AP)in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
    and ^(AQ)look on my affliction.
¹⁶And were my head lifted up,^[c] you would hunt me like ^(AR)a lion
    and again work ^(AS)wonders against me.
¹⁷You renew your ^(AT)witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you ^(AU)bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸^(AV)“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
¹⁹^(AW)and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰^(AX)Are not my days few?
    ^(AY)Then cease, and leave me alone, ^(AZ)that I may find a little cheer
²¹before I go—and ^(BA)I shall not return—
    to the land of ^(BB)darkness and ^(BC)deep shadow,
²²the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”