Job 10

Job Despairs of God’s Dealings

1“12I am disgusted with my own life; I will express 3my complaint freely; 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 work of Your hands, And 8to look favorably on 9the plan of the wicked?4Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You 10see as mankind sees?5Are Your days like the days of a mortal, Or 11Your years like a man’s year,6That 12You should search for my guilt And carefully seek my sin?7According to Your knowledge 13I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is 14no one to save me from Your hand.

8‘15Your hands fashioned and made me 16altogether, 17Yet would You destroy me?9Remember that You have made me as 18clay; Yet 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 intertwine me with bones and tendons?12You have 20granted me life and 21goodness; And Your care has guarded my spirit.13Yet You have concealed 22these things in Your heart; I know that this is within You:14If I have sinned, You will 23take note of me, And 24will not acquit me of my guilt.15If 25I am wicked, woe to me! But if 26I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am full of shame, and 27conscious of my misery.16And should my head be high, 28You would hunt me like a lion; And You would show Your 29power against me again.17You renew 30Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; 3132Hardship after hardship is with me.

18‘33Why then did You bring me out of the womb? If only I had died and no eye had seen me!19I should have been as though I had not been, Brought from womb to tomb.’20Would He not leave 34my few days alone? 3536Withdraw from me so that I may have a little cheerfulness21Before I go--37and I shall not return-- 38To the land of darkness and 39deep shadow,22The land of utter gloom like darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And it shines like darkness.”