Job 10

Job Despairs of God’s Dealings

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“I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

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“I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me [and declare me guilty]!
Show me why You contend and argue and struggle with me.

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‘Does it indeed seem right to You to oppress,
To despise and reject the work of Your hands,
And to look with favor on the schemes of the wicked?

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‘Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a man sees?

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‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are Your years as man’s years,

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That You seek my guilt
And search for my sin?

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‘Although You know that I am not guilty or wicked,
Yet there is no one who can rescue me from Your hand.

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‘Your hands have formed and made me altogether.
Would You [turn around and] destroy me?

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‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?

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‘Have You not poured me out like milk
And curdled me like cheese?

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‘[You have] clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews.

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‘You have granted me life and lovingkindness;
And Your providence (divine care, supervision) has preserved my spirit.

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‘Yet these [present evils] You have hidden in Your heart [since my creation]:
I know that this was within You [in Your purpose and thought].

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‘If I sin, then You would take note and observe me,
And You would not acquit me of my guilt.

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‘If I am wicked, woe to me [for judgment comes]!
And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
For I am sated and filled with disgrace and the sight of my misery.

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‘Should I lift my head up, You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your marvelous power against me.

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‘You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].

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‘Why then did You bring me out of the womb?
Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

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‘I should have been as though I had not existed;
[I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’

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“Would He not let my few days alone,
Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

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Before I go—and I shall not return—
To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],

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The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”