Job 10

1“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

3Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

4Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?

5Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,

6that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—

7though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

8Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?

9Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

10Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.

13Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:

14If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

15If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

16Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

17You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.

18Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!

19If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

20Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,

21before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,

22to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

1Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?

2In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.

3For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

4In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

5He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.

6He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”

7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

8He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.

9He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

10They are crushed and beaten down; the helpless fall prey to his strength.

11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”

12Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless.

13Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.”

14But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

15Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.

16The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.

17You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

18to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.