Job

 3 Does it benefit you to oppress,

To despise the work of your hands+

While you favor the advice of the wicked?

 4 Do you have eyes of flesh,

Or do you see as mortal man does?

 5 Are your days like the days of mortals,

Or are your years like those of a man,+

 6 That you should search out my error

And keep looking for my sin?+

 7 You know that I am not guilty;+

And no one can save me from your hand.+

 8 Your own hands have shaped me and made me,+

But now you would completely destroy me.

 9 Remember, please, that you made me out of clay,+

But now you make me return to dust.+

10 Did you not pour me out like milk

And curdle me like cheese?

11 With skin and flesh you clothed me,

And with bones and sinews you wove me together.+

12 You have given me life and loyal love;

You have guarded my spirit* with your care.+

14 If I sinned, you would watch me,+

And you would not acquit me of my error.

And even if I am innocent, I cannot raise my head,+

For I am filled with dishonor and affliction.+

16 If I raise my head up, you hunt for me like a lion+

And again show your power against me.

17 You bring new witnesses against me

And increase your anger against me,

As hardship after hardship comes upon me.

19 It would have been as though I never existed;

I would have been taken straight from the womb to the grave.’

20 Are not my days few?+ Let him leave me alone;

Let him turn his eyes away from me, so that I may find some relief*+

21 Before I go away—and I will not return+—

To the land of deepest darkness,*+

22 To the land of utter gloom,

A land of deep shadow and disorder,

Where even the light is like the gloom.”