Job 10
10
Job: I Would Plead with God
1“My #1 Kin. 19:4; Job 7:16; Jon. 4:3soul loathes my life;
I will give free course to my complaint,
#Job 7:11I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.
3Does it seem good to You that You should oppress,
That You should despise the work of Your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or #(1 Sam. 16:7; Job 28:24; 34:21)do You see as man sees?
5Are Your days like the days of a mortal man?
Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,
6That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
7Although You know that I am not wicked,
And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8‘Your#Job 10:3; Ps. 119:73 hands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
Yet You would #(Job 9:22)destroy me.
9Remember, I pray, #Gen. 2:7; Job 33:6that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
10#(Ps. 139:14–16)Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
11Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
12You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.
13‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
14If I sin, then #Job 7:20; Ps. 139:1You mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15If I am wicked, #Job 10:7; Is. 3:11woe to me;
#(Job 9:12, 15)Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am full of disgrace;
#Ps. 25:18See my misery!
16If my head is exalted,
#Is. 38:13; Lam. 3:10; Hos. 13:7You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
17You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war are ever with me.
18‘Why#Job 3:11–13 then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20#Ps. 39:5Are not my days few?
Cease! #Job 7:16, 19Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,
#Ps. 88:12To the land of darkness #Ps. 23:4and the shadow of death,
22A land as dark as darkness itself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”
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Job 10: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Job 10
10
I will give myself up to complaint;
I will speak from the bitterness of my soul.
2I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong!
Let me know why you oppose me.
3#These lines are a delicate mixture of sarcasm and prayer; Job “reminds” God, challenging the divine providence. Note the piteous tone of the final request in vv. 20–22. Is it a pleasure for you to oppress,
to spurn the work of your hands,
and shine on the plan of the wicked?
4Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as mortals see?
5Are your days like the days of a mortal,#Jb 36:26.
and are your years like a human lifetime,
6That you seek for guilt in me
and search after my sins,
7Even though you know that I am not wicked,#Jb 2:3, 9; Dt 32:39; Wis 16:15.
and that none can deliver me out of your hand?
8Your hands have formed me and fashioned me;
will you then turn and destroy me?
9Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay!#Jb 4:19; 33:6; Gn 2:7; 3:19; Ps 146:4.
Will you then bring me down to dust again?
10Did you not pour me out like milk,
and thicken me like cheese?
11With skin and flesh you clothed me,
with bones and sinews knit me together.
12Life and love you granted me,
and your providence has preserved my spirit.
13Yet these things you have hidden in your heart;
I know they are your purpose:
14If I should sin, you would keep a watch on me,
and from my guilt you would not absolve me.
15If I should be wicked, alas for me!
even if righteous, I dare not hold up my head,
sated with shame, drenched in affliction!
16Should it lift up, you hunt me like a lion:
repeatedly you show your wondrous power against me,
17You renew your attack#Attack: or “witnesses,” continuing the metaphor of lawsuit used in these chapters. upon me
and multiply your harassment of me;
in waves your troops come against me.
18Why then did you bring me forth from the womb?#Jb 3:3, 11.
I should have died and no eye have seen me.
19I should be as though I had never lived;
I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.
20Are not my days few? Stop!
Let me alone, that I may recover a little
21Before I go whence I shall not return,#Jb 7:9–10; 16:22.
to the land of darkness and of gloom,
22The dark, disordered land
where darkness is the only light.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc