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 10,18 Hiob 10,18
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
But the eyes of the wicked shall fail,And {Hebrew: refuge is perished from them.}they shall have no way to flee;And their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost.
Why died I not from the womb?Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
But man dieth, and is laid low:Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me.
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and {Or, an alarm}shouting at noontime;
because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
The Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is {See marginal note on chapter 10:4.}betrayed! good were it {Greek: for him if that man.}for that man if he had not been born.