Job: I Would Plead with God
1 “Mysoul loathes my life;
I will give free course to my complaint,
# I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.
3 Doesitseem good to You that You should oppress,
That You should despise the work of Your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh?
# Ordo You see as man sees?
5 AreYour days like the days of a mortal man?
AreYour years like the days of a mighty man,
6 That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
7 Although You know that I am not wicked,
Andthereisno one who can deliver from Your hand?
8 ‘Yourhands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
# Yet You woulddestroy me.
9 Remember, I pray,that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
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 with bones and sinews?
12 You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 ‘And thesethingsYou have hidden in Your heart;
I know that thiswaswith You:
14 If I sin, thenYou mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked,woe to me;
# EvenifI am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
Iamfull of disgrace;
# See my misery!
16 Ifmyheadis exalted,
# You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
17 You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war areeverwith me.
18 ‘Whythen have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few?
# Cease!Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21 Before I gototheplacefromwhichI shall not return,
# To the land of darknessand the shadow of death,
22 A land as dark as darknessitself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Whereeven the lightislike darkness.’ ”