Job Despairs of God’s Dealings

1 “1aI loathe my own life;

I will give full vent to bmy complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 “I will say to God, ‘aDo not condemn me;

Let me know why You contend with me.

3 ‘Is it 1right for You indeed to aoppress,

To reject bthe labor of Your hands,

And 2to look favorably on cthe schemes of the wicked?

4 ‘Have You eyes of flesh?

Or do You asee as a man sees?

5 ‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,

Or aYour years as man’s years,

6 That aYou should seek for my guilt

And search after my sin?

7 ‘According to Your knowledge aI am indeed not guilty,

Yet there is bno deliverance from Your hand.

8 ‘aYour hands fashioned and made me 1altogether,

bAnd would You destroy me?

9 ‘Remember now, that You have made me as aclay;

And would You bturn me into dust again?

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 with bones and sinews?

12 ‘You have agranted me life and lovingkindness;

And Your care has preserved my spirit.

13 ‘Yet athese things You have concealed in Your heart;

I know that this is within You:

14 If I sin, then You would atake note of me,

And bwould not acquit me of my guilt.

15 ‘If aI am wicked, woe to me!

And bif I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.

I am sated with disgrace and 1conscious of my misery.

16 ‘Should my head be lifted up, aYou would hunt me like a lion;

And again You would show Your bpower against me.

17 ‘You renew aYour witnesses against me

And increase Your anger toward me;

1bHardship after hardship is with me.

18 ‘aWhy then have You brought me out of the womb?

Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!

19 ‘I should have been as though I had not been,

Carried from womb to tomb.’

20 “Would He not let amy few days alone?

1bWithdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

21 Before I go—aand I shall not return—

bTo the land of darkness and cdeep shadow,

22 The land of utter gloom as darkness itself,

Of deep shadow without order,

And which shines as the darkness.”