from Biblica1‘I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.2I say to God: do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.3Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked?4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?5Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man,6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin –7though you know that I am not guilty and that no-one can rescue me from your hand?8‘Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?9Remember that you moulded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,11clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?12You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.13‘But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind:14if I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offence go unpunished.15If I am guilty – woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in[1] my affliction.16If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.17You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger towards me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.18‘Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.19If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!20Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so that I can have a moment’s joy21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness,22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.’
Job 10
King James Version
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 unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.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?4Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?5Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man' days,6That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?7Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.8Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?10Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?11Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.12Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.13And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.14If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.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;16For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.17Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against 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!19I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.20Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,21Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;22A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.