10 "I loathe my very life;
therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.
² I say to God: Do not declare me guilty,
but tell me what charges you have against me.
³ Does it please you to oppress me,
to spurn the work of your hands,
while you smile on the plans of the wicked?
⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as a mortal sees?
⁵ Are your days like those of a mortal
or your years like those of a strong man,
⁶ that you must search out my faults
and probe after my sin −
⁷ though you know that I am not guilty
and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

⁸ "Your hands shaped me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?
⁹ Remember that you molded me like clay.
Will you now turn me to 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 gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your providence watched over my spirit.

¹³ "But this is what you concealed in your heart,
and I know that this was in your mind:
¹⁴ If I sinned, you would be watching me
and would not let my offense go unpunished.
¹⁵ If I am guilty −woe to me!
Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
and drowned in^[a] my affliction.
¹⁶ If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
and again display your awesome power against me.
¹⁷ You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger toward me;
your forces come against me wave upon wave.

¹⁸ "Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
I wish I had died before any eye saw me.
¹⁹ If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!
²⁰ Are not my few days almost over?
Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy
²¹ before I go to the place of no return,
to the land of gloom and utter darkness,
²² to the land of deepest night,
of utter darkness and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness."

² "Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated?
³ Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
⁴ You say to God, ’My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.’
⁵ Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
that he would open his lips against you
⁶ and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

⁷ "Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
⁸ They are higher than the heavens above−what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths below −what can you know?
⁹ Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.

¹⁰ "If he comes along and confines you in prison
and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
¹¹ Surely he recognizes deceivers;
and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
¹² But the witless can no more become wise
than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.^[b]

¹³ "Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
¹⁴ if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
¹⁵ then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
you will stand firm and without fear.
¹⁶ You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
¹⁷ Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
¹⁸ You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
¹⁹ You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
and many will court your favor.
²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their hope will become a dying gasp."

² "Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
and wisdom will die with you!
³ But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?

⁴ "I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called on God and he answered −
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
⁵ Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
⁶ The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure −
those God has in his hand.^[c]

⁷ "But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹ Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³ "To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
¹⁴ What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
those he imprisons cannot be released.
¹⁵ If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
¹⁶ To him belong strength and insight;
both deceived and deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads rulers away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth^[d] around their waist.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows officials long established.
²⁰ He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.
²² He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings utter darkness into the light.
²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.