10
Job Despairs of God’s Dealings
1 “I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 “I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me [and declare me guilty]!
Show me why You contend and argue and struggle with me.
3 ‘Does it indeed seem right to You to oppress,
To despise and reject the work of Your hands,
And to look with favor on the schemes of the wicked?
4 ‘Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a man sees?
5 ‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are Your years as man’s years,
6 That You seek my guilt
And search for my sin?
7 ‘Although You know that I am not guilty or wicked,
Yet there is no one who can rescue me from Your hand.
8 ‘Your hands have formed and made me altogether.
Would You [turn around and] destroy me?
9 ‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?
10 ‘Have You not poured me out like milk
And curdled me like cheese?
11 ‘[You have] clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 ‘You have granted me life and lovingkindness;
And Your providence (divine care, supervision) has preserved my spirit.
13 ‘Yet these [present evils] You have hidden in Your heart [since my creation]:
I know that this was within You [in Your purpose and thought].
14 ‘If I sin, then You would take note and observe me,
And You would not acquit me of my guilt.
15 ‘If I am wicked, woe to me [for judgment comes]!
And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
For I am sated and filled with disgrace and the sight of my misery.
16 ‘Should I lift my head up, You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your marvelous power against me.
17 ‘You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].
18 ‘Why then did You bring me out of the womb?
Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 ‘I should have been as though I had not existed;
[I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’
20 “Would He not let my few days alone,
Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer
21 Before I go—and I shall not return—
To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],
22 The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”