Job 10

¹ “I’m sick of living. So I’ll talk openly about my problems. I’ll speak out because my spirit is bitter.

² I say to God, ‘Don’t find me guilty. Instead, tell me what charges you are bringing against me.

³ Does it make you happy when you crush me? Does it please you to turn your back on what you have made? While you do those things, you smile on the plans of sinful people!

⁴ You don’t have human eyes. You don’t see as people see.

⁵ Your days aren’t like the days of a mere human being. Your years aren’t even like the years of a strong man.

⁶ So you search for my mistakes. You look for my sin.

⁷ You already know I’m not guilty. No one can save me from your power.

⁸ “ ‘Your hands shaped me and made me. So are you going to destroy me now?

⁹ Remember, you molded me like clay. So are you going to turn me back into dust?

¹⁰ Didn’t you pour me out like milk? Didn’t you form me like cheese?

¹¹ Didn’t you put skin and flesh on me? Didn’t you sew me together with bones and muscles?

¹² You gave me life. You were kind to me. You took good care of me. You watched over me.

¹³ “ ‘But here’s what you hid in your heart. Here’s what you had on your mind.

¹⁴ If I sinned, you would be watching me. You wouldn’t let me go without punishing me.

¹⁵ If I were guilty, how terrible that would be for me! Even if I haven’t sinned, I can’t be proud of what I’ve done. That’s because I’m so full of shame. I’m drowning in my suffering.

¹⁶ If I become proud, you hunt me down like a lion. You show your mighty power against me.

¹⁷ You bring new witnesses against me. You become more and more angry with me. You use your power against me again and again.

¹⁸ “ ‘Why did you bring me out of my mother’s body? I wish I had died before anyone saw me.

¹⁹ I wish I’d never been born! I wish I’d been carried straight from my mother’s body to the grave!

²⁰ Aren’t my few days almost over? Leave me so I can have a moment of joy.

²¹ Turn away before I go to the place I can’t return from. It’s the land of gloom and total darkness. ²² It’s the land of darkest night and total darkness and disorder. There even the light is like darkness.’ ”