Job 10

Job Despairs of God’s Dealings

1“12I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to 3my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.2I will say to God, ‘4Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.3Is it 5right for You indeed to 6oppress, To reject 7the labor of Your hands, And 8to look favorably on 9the schemes of the wicked?4Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You 10see as a man sees?5Are Your days as the days of a mortal, Or 11Your years as man’s years,6That 12You should seek for my guilt And search after my sin?7According to Your knowledge 13I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is 14no deliverance from Your hand.

8‘15Your hands fashioned and made me 16altogether, 17And would You destroy me?9Remember now, that You have made me as 18clay; And would You 19turn me into dust again?10Did 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 20granted me life and lovingkindness; And Your care has preserved my spirit.13Yet 21these things You have concealed in Your heart; I know that this is within You:14If I sin, then You would 22take note of me, And 23would not acquit me of my guilt.15If 24I am wicked, woe to me! And 25if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am sated with disgrace and 26conscious of my misery.16Should my head be lifted up, 27You would hunt me like a lion; And again You would show Your 28power against me.17You renew 29Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; 3031Hardship after hardship is with me.

18‘32Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!19I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb to tomb.’20Would He not let 33my few days alone? 3435Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer21Before I go--36and I shall not return-- 37To the land of darkness and 38deep shadow,22The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness.”