Job 10

₁I am tired of living.

Listen to my bitter complaint.

₂Don't condemn me, God.

Tell me! What is the charge against me?

₃Is it right for you to be so cruel?

To despise what you yourself have made?

And then to smile on the schemes of wicked people?

₄Do you see things as we do?

₅Is your life as short as ours?

₆Then why do you track down all my sins

and hunt down every fault I have?

₇You know that I am not guilty,

that no one can save me from you.

₈Your hands formed and shaped me,

and now those same hands destroy me.

₉Remember that you made me from clay;

are you going to crush me back to dust?

₁₀You gave my father strength to beget me;

you made me grow in my mother's womb.

₁₁You formed my body with bones and sinews

and covered the bones with muscles and skin.

₁₂You have given me life and constant love,

and your care has kept me alive.

₁₃But now I know that all that time

you were secretly planning to harm me.

₁₄You were watching to see if I would sin,

so that you could refuse to forgive me.

₁₅As soon as I sin, I'm in trouble with you,

but when I do right, I get no credit.

I am miserable and covered with shame.

₁₆If I have any success at all,

you hunt me down like a lion;

to hurt me you even work miracles.

₁₇You always have some witness against me;

your anger towards me grows and grows;

you always plan some new attack.

₁₈Why, God, did you let me be born?

I should have died before anyone saw me.

₁₉To go from the womb straight to the grave

would have been as good as never existing.

₂₀Isn't my life almost over? Leave me alone!

Let me enjoy the time I have left.

₂₁I am going soon and will never come back —

going to a land that is dark and gloomy,

₂₂a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion,

where the light itself is darkness.