Job’s Plea to God
Job says he loathes his life and will speak out of bitterness, telling God not simply to condemn him but to explain why he contends with him. He asks whether it pleases God to oppress the work of his own hands or whether God searches him the way a mortal would, even though God knows he is not guilty and that no one can deliver him from God's hand.
“1I loathe my own life; 2I will say to God: 3Does it please You to oppress me, 4Do You have eyes of flesh? 5Are Your days like those of a mortal, 6that You should seek my iniquity 7though You know that I am not guilty,
Job reminds God that his hands shaped him like clay, knit him together, clothed him with skin and flesh, and gave him life and steadfast care. Yet he says God seems to have hidden another purpose all along: to watch for sin, refuse acquittal, and renew his witnesses against him so that whether he is guilty or upright, he is still overwhelmed.
8Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. 9Please remember that You molded me like clay. 10Did You not pour me out like milk, 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, 12You have granted me life and loving devotion, 13Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, 14If I sinned, You would take note, 15If I am guilty, woe to me! 16Should I hold my head high, 17You produce new witnesses against me
Job asks why he was ever brought from the womb if this was to be the end, wishing he had passed from birth to grave unseen. Since his days are few, he asks God to look away and let him find a little brightness before he goes to the land of deep shadow and disorder, where even light is like darkness.
18Why then did You bring me from the womb? 19If only I had never come to be, 20Are my days not few? 21before I go — never to return — 22to a land of utter darkness,