1 "I loathe my very life;
therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. |
2 I will say to God: Do not condemn me,
but tell me what charges you have against me. |
3 Does it please you to oppress me,
to spurn the work of your hands,
while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? |
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as a mortal sees? |
5 Are your days like those of a mortal
or your years like those of a man, |
6 that you must search out my faults
and probe after my sin- |
7 though you know that I am not guilty
and that no one can rescue me from your hand? |
8 "Your hands shaped me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me? |
9 Remember that you molded me like clay.
Will you now turn me to dust again? |
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese, |
11 clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews? |
12 You gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your providence watched over my spirit. |
13 "But this is what you concealed in your heart,
and I know that this was in your mind: |
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me
and would not let my offense go unpunished. |
15 If I am guilty-woe to me!
Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
and drowned in1 10:15 Or and aware of my affliction. |
16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
and again display your awesome power against me. |
17 You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger toward me;
your forces come against me wave upon wave. |
18 "Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
I wish I had died before any eye saw me. |
19 If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! |
20 Are not my few days almost over?
Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy |
21 before I go to the place of no return,
to the land of gloom and deep shadow,2 10:21 Or and the shadow of death ; also in verse 22 |
22 to the land of deepest night,
of deep shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness." |
