Job 10

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¹My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.

²I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

³What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

⁴Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?

⁵Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,

⁶That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing,

⁷Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?

⁸Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.

⁹O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust?

¹⁰Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese?

¹¹By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles.

¹²You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.

¹³But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

¹⁴That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin:

¹⁵That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.

¹⁶And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:

¹⁷That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.

¹⁸Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

¹⁹And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.

²⁰Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,

²¹Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,

²²A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

Job 10

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 tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.

³Is it 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 do you see as man sees?

⁵Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years,

⁶that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

⁷Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

⁸"'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

⁹Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

¹⁴if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

¹⁶If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

¹⁸"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

¹⁹I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

²⁰Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

²¹before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

²²the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.'"