Job 10

Job: I Would Plead with God

10“My ^asoul loathes my life; I will ¹give free course to my complaint,

^bI will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

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

Show me why You contend with me.

³Does it seem good to You that You should oppress,

That You should despise the work of Your hands,

And smile on the counsel of the wicked?

⁴Do You have eyes of flesh?

Or ^cdo You see as man sees?

⁵Are Your days like the days of a mortal man?

Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,

⁶That You should seek for my iniquity

And search out my sin,

⁷Although You know that I am not wicked,

And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

⁸‘Your ^dhands have made me and fashioned me,

An intricate unity;

Yet You would ^edestroy me.

⁹Remember, I pray, ^fthat You have made me like clay.

And will You turn me into dust again?

^10gDid You not pour me out like milk,

And curdle me like cheese,

¹¹Clothe me with skin and flesh,

And knit me together with bones and sinews?

¹²You have granted me life and favor,

And Your care has preserved my spirit.

¹³‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;

I know that this was with You:

¹⁴If I sin, then ^hYou mark me,

And will not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am wicked, ⁱwoe to me;

^jEven if I am righteous, I ²cannot lift up my head.

I am full of disgrace;

^kSee my misery!

¹⁶If my head is exalted,

^lYou hunt me like a fierce lion,

And again You show Yourself awesome against me.

¹⁷You renew Your witnesses against me,

And increase Your indignation toward me;

Changes and war are ever with me.

¹⁸‘Why ^mthen have You brought me out of the womb?

Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹I would have been as though I had not been.

I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰ⁿAre not my days few?

Cease! ^oLeave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,

²¹Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,

^pTo the land of darkness ^qand the shadow of death,

²²A land as dark as darkness itself,

As the shadow of death, without any order,

Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”