Job, 10

¹ “I loathe^*1 my life. I will give vent to my complaints. I will speak out in my bitter distress!^*2

² I will say to God: ‘Do not pronounce me guilty. Tell me why you are contending with me.

³ Does it benefit you to oppress, To despise the work of your hands While you favor the advice of the wicked?

⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh, Or do you see as mortal man does?

⁵ Are your days like the days of mortals, Or are your years like those of a man,

⁶ That you should search out my error And keep looking for my sin?

⁷ You know that I am not guilty; And no one can save me from your hand.

⁸ Your own hands have shaped me and made me, But now you would completely destroy me.

⁹ Remember, please, that you made me out of clay, But now you make me return to dust.

¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk And curdle me like cheese?

¹¹ With skin and flesh you clothed me, And with bones and sinews you wove me together.

¹² You have given me life and loyal love; You have guarded my spirit^*1 with your care.

¹³ But you secretly intended to do these things.^*1 I know that these things are from you.

¹⁴ If I sinned, you would watch me, And you would not acquit me of my error.

¹⁵ If I am guilty, too bad for me! And even if I am innocent, I cannot raise my head, For I am filled with dishonor and affliction.

¹⁶ If I raise my head up, you hunt for me like a lion And again show your power against me.

¹⁷ You bring new witnesses against me And increase your anger against me, As hardship after hardship comes upon me.

¹⁸ So why did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died before any eye could see me.

¹⁹ It would have been as though I never existed; I would have been taken straight from the womb to the grave.’

²⁰ Are not my days few? Let him leave me alone; Let him turn his eyes away from me, so that I may find some relief^*1

²¹ Before I go away—and I will not return— To the land of deepest darkness,^*1

²² To the land of utter gloom, A land of deep shadow and disorder, Where even the light is like the gloom.”