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Job Despairs of God's Dealings

¹ "^(F1)(C1)I am disgusted with my own life;
I will express ^(C2)my complaint freely;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

² "I will say to God, '^(C1)Do not condemn me;
Let me know why You contend with me.

³ 'Is it ^(F1)right for You indeed to ^(C1)oppress,
To reject ^(C2)the work of Your hands,
And ^(F2)to look favorably on ^(C3)the plan of the wicked?

⁴ 'Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or do You ^(C1)see as mankind sees?

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

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

⁷ 'According to Your knowledge ^(C1)I am indeed not guilty,
Yet there is ^(C2)no one to save me from Your hand.

⁸ '^(C1)Your hands fashioned and made me ^(F1)altogether,
^(C2)Yet would You destroy me?

⁹ 'Remember that You have made me as ^(C1)clay;
Yet would You ^(C2)turn me into dust again?

¹⁰ 'Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,

¹¹ Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And intertwine me with bones and tendons?

¹² 'You have ^(C1)granted me life and ^(F1)goodness;
And Your care has guarded my spirit.

¹³ 'Yet You have concealed ^(C1)these things in Your heart;
I know that this is within You:

¹⁴ If I have sinned, You will ^(C1)take note of me,
And ^(C2)will not acquit me of my guilt.

¹⁵ 'If ^(C1)I am wicked, woe to me!
But if ^(C2)I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
I am full of shame, and ^(F1)conscious of my misery.

¹⁶ 'And should my head be high, ^(C1)You would hunt me like a lion;
And You would show Your ^(C2)power against me again.

¹⁷ 'You renew ^(C1)Your witnesses against me
And increase Your anger toward me;
^(F1)(C2)Hardship after hardship is with me.

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

¹⁹ 'I should have been as though I had not been,
Brought from womb to tomb.'

²⁰ "Would He not leave ^(C1)my few days alone?
^(F1)(C2)Withdraw from me so that I may have a little cheerfulness

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

²² The land of utter gloom like darkness itself,
Of deep shadow without order,
And it shines like darkness."