My soul is weary of my life;
I will give free course to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me;
Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress,
That thou shouldest despise the {Hebrew: labor.}work of thy hands,
And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Hast thou eyes of flesh?
Or seest thou as man seeth?
Are thy days as the days of man,
Or thy years as man's days,
That thou inquirest after mine iniquity,
And searchest after my sin,
Although thou knowest that I am not wicked,
And there is none that can deliver out of thy hand?
Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me
Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay;
And wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Hast thou not poured me out as milk,
And curdled me like cheese?
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews.
Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness;
And thy {Or, care}visitation hath {Or, I am filled with ignominy, but look thou…for it increaseth: thou &c.}preserved my spirit.
Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart;
I know that this is with thee:
If I sin, then thou markest me,
And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
If I be wicked, woe unto me;
And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head;
Being filled with ignominy,
And looking upon mine affliction.
And if my head exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion;
And again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me,
And increasest thine indignation upon me:
{Or, Host after host is against me}Changes and warfare are with me.
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?
I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Are not my days few? {Another reading is, let him cease, and leave me alone.}cease then,
And let me alone, that I may {Hebrew: brighten up.}take comfort a little,
Before I go whence I shall not return,
Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
The land dark as {Hebrew: thick darkness.}midnight,
The land of the shadow of death, without any order,
And where the light is as {Hebrew: thick darkness.}midnight.
Querverweise zu Hiob 10,16 Hiob 10,16
{Or, I thought until morning, As a lion, o will he break &c.}I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones:From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then Jehovah hath not sent me.
He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
But if Jehovah {Hebrew: create a creation.}make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then ye shall understand that these men have despised Jehovah.
Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there will I devour them like a lioness; the wild beast shall tear them.
The lion hath roared; who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?