Job 10

I Will Speak in the Bitterness of My Soul

1“My soul is weary of my life.
I will give free course to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
make me know why you contend with me. 3Is it good for you to oppress,
to reject the work of your hands,
while you shine upon the counsel of the wicked? 4Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as a human sees? 5Are your days like the days of a mortal,
or your years like the years of a man, 6that you seek out my guilt
and search for my sin, 7though you know that I am not wicked,
and there is no one who can deliver from your hand?

Your Hands Shaped Me

8Your hands shaped me and made me,
together all around—yet you swallow me up. 9Remember, please, that you made me like clay.
Will you return me to dust? 10Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese, 11clothe me with skin and flesh,
and weave me together with bones and sinews? 12You gave me life and steadfast love,
and your care guarded my spirit.

Yet These Things You Hid in Your Heart

13Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was with you: 14if I sin, you watch me
and do not acquit me of my guilt. 15If I am wicked, woe to me!
And if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head.
I am filled with disgrace
and look upon my affliction. 16If my head rises, you hunt me like a lion
and again show yourself wondrous against me. 17You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your anger with me;
changes and warfare are against me.

Why Did You Bring Me from the Womb?

18Why then did you bring me out from the womb?
I should have expired,
and no eye would have seen me. 19I would have been as though I had not been,
carried from womb to grave. 20Are not my days few?
Stop, and leave me alone,
that I may brighten a little 21before I go—and do not return—
to the land of darkness and death-shadow, 22a land of deepest gloom,
like death-shadow without order,
where light is like darkness.”