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Job continues to speak

10 I do not want to live any longer.
I must continue to complain.
I am very upset and I have to speak about it.

This is what I will say to God:

“Do not say that I am guilty.
    Tell me what bad things you think I have done.
Your own hands created me.
    So you should not be cruel to me. It is not right.
Instead, you are kind to wicked people.
    You help them to do the bad things that they want to do.
Do you see things as people see them?
    Are your eyes only like human eyes?[a]
Is your life like a human life?
    It is surely not as short as that!
So why do you want to discover all my sins?
    Why do you hurry to do that?
You know that I am not guilty.
    But you also know that no one can save me from your power.

Your own hands have made me who I am.
    But now you are completely destroying me.
Remember that you made me,
    like someone who uses clay to make things.
Will you now make me become dust again?
10 You poured me like milk into my mother.
There you put my body together,
    like milk that becomes cheese.
11 You joined my bones together,
    and you covered them with skin.
12 You gave me life and you loved me faithfully.
    You took care of me and you kept me safe.
13 But now I know what you have been thinking.
    I have discovered your secret.
14 You were watching me to see if I did wrong things.
    Then you would refuse to forgive me.
15 If I am guilty of sin,
    that brings terrible trouble to me.
But if I am righteous,
    I still feel ashamed.
Whatever I do, I have nothing but shame
    and my life is full of trouble.
16 If I try to be brave,
    you chase me like a hungry lion.
    You show your power to hurt me.
17 You find more reasons to attack me.
You become more and more angry with me.
    You attack me with even greater power.

18 Why did you let me be born?
    I should have died before anyone saw me.
19 It would have been better if I had not been born.
Or they should have put me in my grave,
    immediately after my birth.
20 I will only live for a few more days.
    So leave me alone! Then I may be happy for a moment.
21 I will soon go to the dark place where there is no hope.
    I will never come back from that place.
22 I will go to that very dark place where there are only shadows.
    In that place, it is still dark when the light shines. ” ’

Footnotes

  1. 10:4 Job is asking God if he really sees what is true. Perhaps God is making a mistake when he says that Job is guilty.

10 “I loathe my very life;(A)
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.(B)
I say to God:(C) Do not declare me guilty,
    but tell me what charges(D) you have against me.(E)
Does it please you to oppress me,(F)
    to spurn the work of your hands,(G)
    while you smile on the plans of the wicked?(H)
Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as a mortal sees?(I)
Are your days like those of a mortal
    or your years like those of a strong man,(J)
that you must search out my faults
    and probe after my sin(K)
though you know that I am not guilty(L)
    and that no one can rescue me from your hand?(M)

“Your hands shaped(N) me and made me.
    Will you now turn and destroy me?(O)
Remember that you molded me like clay.(P)
    Will you now turn me to dust again?(Q)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese,
11 clothe me with skin and flesh
    and knit me together(R) with bones and sinews?
12 You gave me life(S) and showed me kindness,(T)
    and in your providence(U) watched over(V) my spirit.

13 “But this is what you concealed in your heart,
    and I know that this was in your mind:(W)
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me(X)
    and would not let my offense go unpunished.(Y)
15 If I am guilty(Z)—woe to me!(AA)
    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,(AB)
for I am full of shame
    and drowned in[a] my affliction.(AC)
16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion(AD)
    and again display your awesome power against me.(AE)
17 You bring new witnesses against me(AF)
    and increase your anger toward me;(AG)
    your forces come against me wave upon wave.(AH)

18 “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?(AI)
    I wish I had died before any eye saw me.(AJ)
19 If only I had never come into being,
    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!(AK)
20 Are not my few days(AL) almost over?(AM)
    Turn away from me(AN) so I can have a moment’s joy(AO)
21 before I go to the place of no return,(AP)
    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,(AQ)
22 to the land of deepest night,
    of utter darkness(AR) and disorder,
    where even the light is like darkness.”(AS)

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:15 Or and aware of