Job’s Plea to God 1 Brenton Weary in my soul, I will pour my words with groans upon him: I will speak being straitened in the bitterness of my soul. BSB BSB: “I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 Brenton And I will say to the Lord, Do not teach me to be impious; and wherefore hast thou thus judged me? BSB BSB: I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
3 Brenton Is it good before thee if I be unrighteous? for thou hast disowned the work of thy hands, and attended to the counsel of the ungodly. BSB BSB: Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4 Brenton Or dost thou see as a mortal sees? or wilt thou look as a man sees? BSB BSB: Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
5 Brenton Or is thy life human, or thy years the years of a man, BSB BSB: Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,
6 Brenton that thou hast enquired into mine iniquity, and searched out my sins? BSB BSB: that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
7 Brenton For thou knowest that I have not committed iniquity: but who is he that can deliver out of thy hands? BSB BSB: though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
8 Brenton Thy hands have formed me and made me; afterwards thou didst change thy mind , and smite me. BSB BSB: Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
9 Brenton Remember that thou hast made me as clay, and thou dost turn me again to earth. BSB BSB: Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
10 Brenton Hast thou not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? BSB BSB: Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
11 Brenton And thou didst clothe me with skin and flesh, and frame me with bones and sinews. BSB BSB: You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 Brenton And thou didst bestow upon me life and mercy, and thy oversight has preserved my spirit. BSB BSB: You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Brenton Having these things in thyself, I know that thou canst do all things; for nothing is impossible with thee. BSB BSB: Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:
14 Brenton And if I should sin, thou watchest me; and thou hast not cleared me from iniquity. BSB BSB: If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 Brenton Or if I should be ungodly, woe is me: and if I should be righteous, I cannot lift myself up, for I am full of dishonour. BSB BSB: If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
16 Brenton For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter; for again thou hast changed and art terribly destroying me; BSB BSB: Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
17 Brenton renewing against me my torture: and thou hast dealt with me in great anger, and thou hast brought trials upon me. BSB BSB: You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
18 Brenton Why then didst thou bring me out of the womb? and why did I not die, and no eye see me, BSB BSB: Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
19 Brenton and I become as if I had not been? for why was I not carried from the womb to the grave? BSB BSB: If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Brenton Is not the time of my life short? suffer me to rest a little, BSB BSB: Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
21 Brenton before I go whence I shall not return, to a land of darkness and gloominess; BSB BSB: before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
22 Brenton to a land of perpetual darkness, where there is no light, neither can any one see the life of mortals. BSB BSB: to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.