English Standard Version

New Living Translation

Job Continues: A Plea to God

“I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

1

Job Frames His Plea to God

“I am disgusted with my life.
Let me complain freely.
My bitter soul must complain.

2

I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.

2

I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me —
tell me the charge you are bringing against me.

3

Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the designs of the wicked?

3

What do you gain by oppressing me?
Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands,
while smiling on the schemes of the wicked?

4

Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as man sees?

4

Are your eyes like those of a human?
Do you see things only as people see them?

5

Are your days as the days of man,
or your years as a man’s years,

5

Is your lifetime only as long as ours?
Is your life so short

6

that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,

6

that you must quickly probe for my guilt
and search for my sin?

7

although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

7

Although you know I am not guilty,
no one can rescue me from your hands.

8

Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.

8

“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me,
yet now you completely destroy me.

9

Remember that you have made me like clay;
and will you return me to the dust?

9

Remember that you made me from dust —
will you turn me back to dust so soon?

10

Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?

10

You guided my conception
and formed me in the womb.a

11

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

11

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

12

You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.

12

You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.
My life was preserved by your care.

13

Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.

13

“‘Yet your real motive —
your true intent —

14

If I sin, you watch me
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

14

was to watch me, and if I sinned,
you would not forgive my guilt.

15

If I am guilty, woe to me!
If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look on my affliction.

15

If I am guilty, too bad for me;
and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high,
because I am filled with shame and misery.

16

And were my head lifted up,a you would hunt me like a lion
and again work wonders against me.

16

And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion
and display your awesome power against me.

17

You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you bring fresh troops against me.

17

Again and again you witness against me.
You pour out your growing anger on me
and bring fresh armies against me.

18

“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

18

“‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb?
Why didn’t you let me die at birth?

19

and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.

19

It would be as though I had never existed,
going directly from the womb to the grave.

20

Are not my days few?
Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

20

I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,
that I may have a moment of comfort

21

before I go — and I shall not return —
to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

21

before I leave — never to return —
for the land of darkness and utter gloom.

22

the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness.”

22

It is a land as dark as midnight,
a land of gloom and confusion,
where even the light is dark as midnight.’”

Parallel

English Standard Version

New Living Translation

Job 10

Job 10