| New International Version | International Standard Version |
| 1"I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. | 1"I am disgusted with living, so I'm going to talk about my complaint freely. I'll speak out from the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me. | 2I'll say to God, 'Don't condemn me! Let me know why you are fighting me. |
| 3Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked? | 3Does it delight you to oppress or despise what you have made, while you smile at the plans of the wicked? |
| 4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? | 4Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do? |
| 5Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man, | 5Can you live only as long as a human being? Or live the years of a mortal man? |
| 6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin-- | 6"'For you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin. |
| 7though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand? | 7Although you know that I'm not guilty, there's no one to deliver me from you! |
| 8"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? | 8Your hands formed and fashioned me, but then you have destroyed me all at once on all sides. |
| 9Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? | 9"'Please remember that you've made me like clay and you'll return me to dust. |
| 10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, | 10Didn't you pour me out like milk and let me congeal like cheese? |
| 11clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? | 11You covered me with skin and flesh, weaving me together with bones and sinews. |
| 12You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. | 12You gave life and gracious love to me; your providential care has preserved my spirit. |
| 13"But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: | 13But you've hidden these things in your heart— I know this was your purpose: |
| 14If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished. | 14If I sin, you watch me and won't acquit me for my iniquity. |
| 15If I am guilty--woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction. | 15"'Woe to me if I'm guilty! If I'm innocent, I cannot lift my head, because I am filled with disgrace. Look at my affliction! |
| 16If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. | 16But if I do lift up my head, you will hunt me like a lion! You will perform miracles in order to fight against me. |
| 17You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave. | 17"'You have brought new witnesses against me, you're even more angry with me— you've brought fresh troops to attack me! |
| 18"Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. | 18So why did you bring me out from the womb? I wish I had died, before anyone had seen me, |
| 19If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! | 19as if I had never existed; carried from the womb to the grave. |
| 20Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy | 20My days are so few, aren't they? So leave me alone, then, so I can smile a little |
| 21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, | 21before I go, never to return, leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow. |
| 22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness." | 22It's a gloomy land, like deepest darkness; where there's no order, and where even the brightness is like darkness.'" |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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