Job 10

An Appeal for Revelation

10:1 “I1 am weary2 of my life;

I will complain without restraint;3

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn4 me;

tell me5 why you are contending6 with me.’

10:3 Is it good for you7 to oppress,8

to9 despise the work of your hands,

while10 you smile11

on the schemes of the wicked?

Motivations of God

10:4 “Do you have eyes of flesh,12

or do you see13 as a human being sees?14

10:5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,

or your years like the years15 of a mortal,

10:6 that16 you must search out17 my iniquity,

and inquire about my sin,

10:7 although you know18 that I am not guilty,

and that there is no one who can deliver19

out of your hand?

Contradictions in God’s Dealings

10:8 “Your hands have shaped20 me and made me,

but21 now you destroy me completely.22

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with23 the clay;

will24 you return me to dust?

10:10 Did you not pour25 me out like milk,

and curdle26 me like cheese?27

10:11 You clothed28 me with skin and flesh

and knit me together29 with bones and sinews.

10:12 You gave me30 life and favor,31

and your intervention32 watched over my spirit.

10:13 “But these things33 you have concealed in your heart;

I know that this34 is with you:35

10:14 If I sinned, then you would watch me

and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

10:15 If I am guilty,36 woe37 to me,

and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head;38

I am full of shame,39

and satiated with my affliction.40

10:16 If I lift myself up,41

you hunt me as a fierce lion,42

and again43 you display your power44 against me.

10:17 You bring new witnesses45 against me,

and increase your anger against me;

relief troops46 come against me.

An Appeal for Relief

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?

I should have died47

and no eye would have seen me!

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed;48

I should have been carried

right from the womb to the grave!

10:20 Are not my days few?49

Cease,50 then, and leave51 me alone,52

that I may find a little comfort,53

10:21 before I depart, never to return,54

to the land of darkness

and the deepest shadow,55

10:22 to the land of utter darkness,

like the deepest darkness,

and the deepest shadow and disorder,56

where even the light57 is like darkness.”58

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