Job Complains to God
I Am Sick of Life!
1 I am sick of life!
And from my deep despair,
I complain to you, my God.
2 Don't just condemn me!
Point out my sin.
3 Why do you take such delight
in destroying those you created
and in smiling on sinners?
4 Do you look at things
the way we humans do?
5 Is your life as short as ours?
6 Is that why you are so quick
to find fault with me?
7 You know I am innocent,
but who can defend me
against you?
8 Will you now destroy
someone you created?
9 Remember that you molded me
like a piece of clay.
So don't turn me back
into dust once again.
10 As cheese is made from milk,
you created my body
from a tiny drop.
11 Then you tied my bones together
with muscles and covered them
with flesh and skin.
12 You, the source of my life,
showered me with kindness
and watched over me.
You Have Not Explained
13 You have not explained
all of your mysteries,
14 but you catch and punish me
each time I sin.
15 Guilty or innocent,
I am condemned and ashamed
because of my troubles.
16 No matter how hard I try,
you keep hunting me down
like a powerful lion.
17 You never stop accusing me;
you become furious and attack
over and over again.
18 Why did you let me be born?
I would rather have died
before birth
19 and been carried to the grave
without ever breathing.
20 I have only a few days left.
Why don't you leave me alone?
Let me find some relief,
* 21 before I travel to the land
22 of darkness and despair,
the place of no return.
1 I am tired of living.
Listen to my bitter complaint.
2 Don't condemn me, God.
Tell me! What is the charge against me?
3 Is 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?
4 Do you see things as we do?
5 Is your life as short as ours?
6 Then why do you track down all my sins
and hunt down every fault I have?
7 You know that I am not guilty,
that no one can save me from you.
8 Your hands formed and shaped me,
and now those same hands destroy me.
9 Remember that you made me from clay;
are you going to crush me back to dust?
10 You gave my father strength to beget me;
you made me grow in my mother's womb.
11 You formed my body with bones and sinews
and covered the bones with muscles and skin.
12 You have given me life and constant love,
and your care has kept me alive.
13 But now I know that all that time
you were secretly planning to harm me.
14 You were watching to see if I would sin,
so that you could refuse to forgive me.
15 As 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.
16 If I have any success at all,
you hunt me down like a lion;
to hurt me you even work miracles.
17 You always have some witness against me;
your anger toward me grows and grows;
you always plan some new attack.
18 Why, God, did you let me be born?
I should have died before anyone saw me.
19 To go from the womb straight to the grave
would have been as good as never existing.
20 Isn't my life almost over? Leave me alone!
Let me enjoy the time I have left.
21 I am going soon and will never come back—
going to a land that is dark and gloomy,
22 a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion,
where the light itself is darkness.
