1 I am disgusted with my life. u
I will give vent to my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God,
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why you prosecute me.
3 Is it good for you to oppress,
to reject the work of your hands, v
and favor the plans of the wicked? w
4 Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human sees?
5 Are your days like those of a human,
or your years like those of a man, x
6 that you look for my iniquity y
and search for my sin,
7 even though you know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can rescue from your power? z
8 “Your hands shaped me and formed me. a
Will you now turn and destroy me?
9 Please remember that you formed me like clay.
Will you now return me to dust? b
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons. c
12 You gave me life and faithful love,
and your care has guarded my life.
13 “Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart;
I know that this was your hidden plan:
14 if I sin, you would notice,
and would not acquit me of my iniquity. d
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame e
and have drunk deeply of my affliction. f
16 If I am proud, you hunt me like a lion
and again display your miraculous power against me. g
17 You produce new witnesses against me
and multiply your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.
18 “Why did you bring me out of the womb? h
I should have died and never been seen.
19 I wish I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave. i
20 Are my days not few? Stop it!
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, j
never to return.
22 It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like the darkness.”
10:1–2. Echoing his earlier description in 7:11 (“I will complain in the bitterness of my soul”), Job speaks to God out of his deep and painful emotion (10:1), in contrast to Bildad, who clinically analyzed Job’s suffering as punishment for sin. Bitterness has penetrated Job’s inner being, causing him to feel fearful, frustrated, angry, and disappointed. He now determines to take all these strong emotions to God as he presents his case to him.
10:3–12. Job’s questions to God here anticipate God’s questioning of Job in chapters 38–41, but what Job asks is paltry by comparison. Psalm 5:4 states that God does not take pleasure in evil, but in Job’s case God seems to violate his own righteous character, not to mention the retribution principle (10:3).
10:13–19. In 10:13 Job takes a sharp turn away from God’s past beneficent action that made and protected him and instead focuses on the pain that he is experiencing in the present. He reasons that God’s treatment of him demonstrates that behind God’s apparent care is a hidden agenda. While appearing to show Job kindness, God actually is scrutinizing him for incriminating evidence to justify destroying him. Job suspects that God’s past blessing does not indicate how God really feels toward him.
10:20–22. Job feels that the intimidating presence of God has destroyed his capacity for joy. Like a prisoner on death row granted a special meal before his execution, Job calls on God to relent and give him a few days of peace before his death (10:20; cf. 7:16). In 10:21–22 Job uses five parallel terms to emphasize the darkness of death. “Gloomy” (10:22) is the same Hebrew term used in Ps 23:4 of an intense shadow that cannot be penetrated by light. As far as Job can tell, there is nothing inviting or pleasurable in death. Nevertheless, as gloomy as the prospect of death is, Job considers it far preferable to the misery and frustration that his life under adversity offers.