Job 10, side by side

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

¹My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

²I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

³Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

³Is 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?

⁴Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?

⁴Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

⁵Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,

⁵Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,

⁶that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—

⁶That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

⁷though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

⁷Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

⁸Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?

⁸Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

⁹Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

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

¹¹Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

¹²You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.

¹²Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

¹³Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:

¹³And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.

¹⁴If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁴If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

¹⁵If 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;

¹⁶Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

¹⁶For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

¹⁷You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.

¹⁷Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

¹⁸Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!

¹⁸Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

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

²⁰Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,

²⁰Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

²¹before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom,

²¹Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

²²to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

²²A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.