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Wisdom & Poetry · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Job 10

Suffering, protest, limited human knowledge, friendship, and encounter with the sovereign God.

Old Testament

Job 10

1“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.

3Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

4Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?

5Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years,

6that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

8“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

9Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

10Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

11You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

14if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

16If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

17You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

18“‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

19I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20Aren’t my days few? Stop! Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

21before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

22the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Suffering, protest, limited human knowledge, friendship, and encounter with the sovereign God. Read Job 10 within the complete Job overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Job 10

Job 10 contains 22 verses and about 369 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: ““My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 22 closes: “the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include will, wicked, days, like, been, soul. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Job 10

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Job 10:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer