Add parallel Print Page Options

Job Asks God to Acquit Him

10 “I am disgusted with living,
    so I’m going to talk about my complaint freely.
        I’ll speak out from the bitterness of my soul.
I’ll say to God,
    ‘Don’t condemn me!
        Let me know why you are fighting me.
Does it delight you to oppress
    or despise what you have made,
        while you smile at the plans of the wicked?[a]
Do you have eyes made of flesh?
    Can you look at things as humans do?
Can you live only as long as a human being?
    Or live the years[b] of a mortal man?

“‘For you seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin.
Although you know that I’m not guilty,
    there’s no one to deliver me from you![c]
Your hands formed and fashioned me,
    but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides.

“‘Please remember that you’ve made me like clay
    and you’ll return me to dust.
10 Didn’t you pour me out like milk
    and let me congeal like cheese?
11 You covered me with skin and flesh,
    weaving me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave life and gracious love to me;
    your providential care has preserved my spirit.
13 But you’ve hidden these things in your heart—
    I know this was your purpose:[d]
14 If I sin, you watch me
    and won’t acquit me for my iniquity.

15 “‘Woe to me if I’m guilty!
    If I’m innocent, I cannot lift my head,
because I am filled with disgrace.
    Look at my affliction!
16 But if I do lift up my head,
    you will hunt me like a lion!
        You will perform miracles in order to fight against me.

17 “‘You have brought new witnesses against me,
    you’re even more angry with me—
        you’ve brought fresh troops to attack me!
18 So why did you bring me out from the womb?
    I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me,
19 as if I had never existed;
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20 My days are so few, aren’t they?
    So leave me alone, then,
        so I can smile a little
21 before I go, never to return,
    leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow.
22 It’s a gloomy land, like deepest darkness;
    where there’s no order,
        and where even[e] the brightness is like darkness.’”

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:3 Lit. you cause the plans of the wicked to shine
  2. Job 10:5 Lit. days
  3. Job 10:7 Lit. from your hand
  4. Job 10:13 Or was in you
  5. Job 10:22 The Heb. lacks even

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

10 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

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?

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,

That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

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.