Job Bemoans His Condition

101 " I loathe my own life ; I will give full e vent to my complaint ; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul . 2 "I will say to God , ' Do not condemn me; Let me know why e You contend with me. 3 'Is it right for You indeed to oppress , To reject the labor of Your hands , And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked ? 4 'Have You eyes of flesh ? Or do You see as a man sees ? 5 'Are Your days as the days of a mortal , Or Your years as man's years , 6 That You should seek for my guilt And search after my sin ? 7 'According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty , Yet there is no deliverance from Your hand .

8 ' Your hands fashioned and made me altogether e , And would You destroy me? 9 'Remember now , that You have made me as clay ; And would You 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 knit me together with bones and sinews ? 12 'You have granted me life and lovingkindness ; And Your care has preserved my spirit . 13 'Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart ; I know that this is within You:

14 If I sin , then You would take note of me, And would not acquit me of my guilt . 15 'If I am wicked , woe to me! And if I am righteous , I dare not lift up my head . I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery . 16 'Should my head be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion ; And again You would show Your power against me. 17 'You renew Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; Hardship after hardship is with me. 18 ' Why then have You brought me out of the womb ? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! 19 'I should have been as though I had not been , Carried from womb to tomb .' 20 "Would He not let my few days alone ? Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer 21 Before I go - and I shall not return - To the land of darkness and deep shadow , 22 The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order , And which shines as the darkness ."

Job Bewails His Birth

31 Afterward e Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said e , 3 " Let the day perish on which I was to be born , And the night which said , 'A boy is conceived .' 4 "May that day be darkness ; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it. 5 "Let darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 "As for that night , let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year ; Let it not come into the number of the months . 7 "Behold , let that night be barren ; Let no joyful shout enter it. 8 "Let those curse it who curse the day , Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan . 9 "Let the stars of its twilight be darkened ; Let it wait for light but have none , And let it not see the breaking dawn ; 10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb , Or hide trouble from my eyes .

11 " Why did I not die at birth , Come forth from the womb and expire ? 12 "Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts , that I should suck ? 13 "For now I would have lain down and been quiet ; I would have slept then , I would have been at rest , 14 With kings and with counselors of the earth , Who rebuilt ruins for themselves; 15 Or with princes who had gold , Who were filling their houses with silver . 16 "Or like a miscarriage which is discarded , I would not be, As infants that never saw light . 17 "There the wicked cease from raging , And there the weary are at rest . 18 "The prisoners are at ease together ; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster . 19 "The small and the great are there , And the slave is free from his master .

20 "Why is light given to him who suffers , And life to the bitter of soul , 21 Who long for death , but there is none , And dig for it more than for hidden treasures , 22 Who rejoice greatly , And exult when they find the grave ? 23 "Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden , And whom God has hedged in? 24 "For my groaning comes at the sight of my food , And my cries pour out like water . 25 "For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. 26 "I am not at ease , nor am I quiet , And I am not at rest , but turmoil comes ."