Job’s Plea to God

1“ My soul Is weary of my life;

I will leave upon myself my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will say to God:

Do not condemn me!

Let me know over what You contend with me.

3Is it good to You that You oppress,

that You despise the work of Your hands,

and upon the counsel of the wicked You shine?

4Are eyes of flesh unto You?

Or do You see according to the seeing of a man?

5Are Your days like the days of a man?

Or are Your years like the days of a man,

6that You would seek for my iniquity,

and would search for my sin—

7upon Your knowledge that I am not wicked,

and there is no delivering from Your hand?

8Your hands formed me and made me entirely round about,

yet You swallowed me up!

9Remember, please, that You made me as from the clay.

And will You return me to the dust?

10Was it not like milk that You poured me out,

and like cheese You curdled me?

11With skin and flesh You clothed me,

and with bones and sinews You knit me together.

12Life and loving devotion† You have done with me,

and Your care has guarded my spirit.

13And these You have hidden in Your heart;

I know that this was with You.

14If I sin then You keep watch on me,

and You will not clear me from my iniquity.

15If I am wicked, woe to me!

And if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head;

I am full of shame,

and seeing my affliction.

16And should it arise—

as a lion You would hunt me,

and turn back and work wonders against me.

17You renew Your witnesses against me

and increase Your indignation with me;

changes and warfare

are with me.

18And why did You bring me forth from the womb?

Would that I had expired, and an eye had not seen me,

19as though I had never come to be—

that I came from the womb and was carried to the grave!

20Are not my days few?

Then cease and withdraw from me, and let me smile a little,

21before I go—and I shall not return—

to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

22a land of obscurity like thick darkness

of the shadow of death, and no order,

and it shines like deep darkness.”