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Job Despairs of God's Dealings

¹ "^(C1)I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to ^(C2)my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

² "I will say to God, '^(C1)Do not condemn me and declare me guilty!
Show me why You contend and argue and struggle with me.

³ 'Does it indeed seem right to You to ^(C1)oppress,
To despise and reject ^(C2)the work of Your hands,
And to look with favor on ^(C3)the schemes of the wicked?

⁴ 'Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You ^(C1)see as a man sees?

⁵ 'Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are ^(C1)Your years as man's years,

⁶ That ^(C1)You seek my guilt
And search for my sin?

⁷ 'Although You know that ^(C1)I am not guilty or wicked,
Yet there is ^(C2)no one who can rescue me from Your hand.

⁸ '^(C1)Your hands have formed and made me altogether.
^(C2)Would You turn around and destroy me?

⁹ 'Remember now, that You have made me as ^(C1)clay;
So will You ^(C2)turn me into dust again?

¹⁰ 'Have You not poured me out like milk
And curdled me like cheese?

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

¹² 'You have ^(C1)granted me life and lovingkindness;
And Your providence (divine care, supervision) has preserved my spirit.

¹³ 'Yet ^(C1)these present evils You have hidden in Your heart since my creation:
I know that this was within You in Your purpose and thought.

¹⁴ 'If I sin, then You would ^(C1)take note and observe me,
And You ^(C2)would not acquit me of my guilt.

¹⁵ 'If ^(C1)I am wicked, woe to me for judgment comes!
And ^(C2)if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
For I am sated and filled with disgrace and the sight of my misery.

¹⁶ 'Should I lift my head up, ^(C1)You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your marvelous ^(C2)power against me.

¹⁷ 'You renew ^(C1)Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
^(C2)Hardship after hardship is with me attacking me time after time.

¹⁸ '^(C1)Why then did You bring me out of the womb?
Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹ 'I should have been as though I had not existed;
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.'

²⁰ "Would He not ^(C1)let my few days alone,
^(C2)Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer

²¹ Before I go—^(C1)and I shall not return—
^(C2)To the land of darkness and the ^(C3)deep shadow of death,

²² The sunless land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
The land of the shadow of death, without order,
And where it shines as thick darkness."