New International Version | New Living Translation |
1"I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. | 1“I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain. |
2I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me. | 2I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me— tell me the charge you are bringing against me. |
3Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked? | 3What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked? |
4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? | 4Are your eyes like those of a human? Do you see things only as people see them? |
5Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man, | 5Is your lifetime only as long as ours? Is your life so short |
6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin-- | 6that you must quickly probe for my guilt and search for my sin? |
7though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand? | 7Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands. |
8"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? | 8“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me. |
9Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? | 9Remember that you made me from dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon? |
10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, | 10You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. |
11clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? | 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. |
12You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. | 12You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care. |
13"But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: | 13“‘Yet your real motive— your true intent— |
14If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished. | 14was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my guilt. |
15If 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 my affliction. | 15If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery. |
16If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. | 16And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me. |
17You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave. | 17Again and again you witness against me. You pour out your growing anger on me and bring fresh armies against me. |
18"Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. | 18“‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb? Why didn’t you let me die at birth? |
19If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! | 19It would be as though I had never existed, going directly from the womb to the grave. |
20Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy | 20I have only a few days left, so leave me alone, that I may have a moment of comfort |
21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, | 21before I leave—never to return— for the land of darkness and utter gloom. |
22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness." | 22It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of gloom and confusion, where even the light is dark as midnight.’” |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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