Job 10

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

My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

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

I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

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

Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

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

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

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

Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,

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

That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

7 Though 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?

Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

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

Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

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

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

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

Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

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

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

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

Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

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

And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.

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

If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

15 That, 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.

If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

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

For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

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

Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

18 Why 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,

Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

19 And 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.

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

20 Are 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,

Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

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

Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

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

A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.