10:1Job began to wallow in self-pity. When we face baffling affliction, our pain lures us toward feeling sorry for ourselves. At this point we are only one step from self-righteousness, where we keep track of life’s injustices and say, “Look what happened to me; how unfair it is!” We may feel like blaming God. Remem-
Life Application Study BibleJobChapter 10
Job 10
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 799, 800
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
10Job 10
1My bitter soul must complain.
2I will say to God, ‘Don't simply condemn me—tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
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?
4Are your eyes like those of a human?Do you see things only as people see them?
5Is your lifetime only as long as ours?Is your life so short6 that you must quickly probe for my guiltand search for my sin?
7Although you know I am not guilty,no one can rescue me from your hands.
8“You formed me with your hands; you made me,yet now you completely destroy me.
9Remember that you made me from dust—will you turn me back to dust so soon?
10You guided my conceptionand formed me in the womb.*
11You clothed me with skin and flesh,and you knit my bones and sinews together.
12You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.My life was preserved by your care.
13“Yet your real motive—your true intent—14 was to watch me, and if I sinned,you would not forgive my guilt.
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.
16And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lionand display your awesome power against me.
17Again and again you witness against me.You pour out your growing anger on meand bring fresh armies against me.
18“Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb?Why didn’t you let me die at birth?
19It would be as though I had never existed,going directly from the womb to the grave.
20I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,that I may have a moment of comfort21 before I leave—never to return—for the land of darkness and utter gloom.
22Itis aland as dark as midnight,a land of gloom and confusion,where even the light is dark as midnight.m”
Textual footnotes
- 10:10 Hebrew You poured me out like milk / and curdied me like
Life Application Notes 3 notes
10:13,14In frustration, Job jumped to the false conclusion that God was out to get him. Wrong assumptions lead to wrong conclusions. We dare not take our limited experiences and jump to conclusions about life in general. If you find yourself doubting God, remember that you don’t have all the facts. God wants only the very best for your life. Many people endure great pain, but ultimately they find same greater good came from it. When you're struggling, don’t assume the worst.
10:20-22Job was expressing the view of death common in Old Testament times, that the dead went to a joyless, dark place. There was no punishment or reward there, and no escape from it. (See the note on 19:25-27 for a broader picture of Job’s view of death.)