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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.
    I will say to God: Don’t find me guilty;
        just explain the charges You have against me.
    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?
    Do You have human eyes so that Your outlook is short?
        Do You see as through human frailties?
    Are Your days like mortals’ limited days?
        Are Your years like mortals’ limited years?
    Is this why You seek out my faults
        or You go in search of all my error?
    You know well that I am not guilty,
        yet nothing can free me from Your overwhelming power.

    Your hands formed and made me whole,
        yet now You turn to crush.
    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.

10 “I loathe my very life;(A)
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.(B)
I say to God:(C) Do not declare me guilty,
    but tell me what charges(D) you have against me.(E)
Does it please you to oppress me,(F)
    to spurn the work of your hands,(G)
    while you smile on the plans of the wicked?(H)
Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as a mortal sees?(I)
Are your days like those of a mortal
    or your years like those of a strong man,(J)
that you must search out my faults
    and probe after my sin(K)
though you know that I am not guilty(L)
    and that no one can rescue me from your hand?(M)

“Your hands shaped(N) me and made me.
    Will you now turn and destroy me?(O)
Remember that you molded me like clay.(P)
    Will you now turn me to dust again?(Q)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese,
11 clothe me with skin and flesh
    and knit me together(R) with bones and sinews?
12 You gave me life(S) and showed me kindness,(T)
    and in your providence(U) watched over(V) my spirit.

13 “But this is what you concealed in your heart,
    and I know that this was in your mind:(W)
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me(X)
    and would not let my offense go unpunished.(Y)
15 If I am guilty(Z)—woe to me!(AA)
    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,(AB)
for I am full of shame
    and drowned in[a] my affliction.(AC)
16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion(AD)
    and again display your awesome power against me.(AE)
17 You bring new witnesses against me(AF)
    and increase your anger toward me;(AG)
    your forces come against me wave upon wave.(AH)

18 “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?(AI)
    I wish I had died before any eye saw me.(AJ)
19 If only I had never come into being,
    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!(AK)
20 Are not my few days(AL) almost over?(AM)
    Turn away from me(AN) so I can have a moment’s joy(AO)
21 before I go to the place of no return,(AP)
    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,(AQ)
22 to the land of deepest night,
    of utter darkness(AR) and disorder,
    where even the light is like darkness.”(AS)

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:15 Or and aware of