Naravist

Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 10

Job 10: Job asks God why he contends with the work of his hands

General context

Job continues his answer. Weary of life, he resolves to speak in the bitterness of his soul and to say to God, Do not condemn me; show me why you contend with me. He asks whether it is good to God to oppress and despise the work of his hands while shining on the counsel of the wicked, and whether God has eyes of flesh or days like a man's, that he searches after Job's sin. He says God knows he is not wicked and that none can deliver from his hand. He recalls that God's hands made and fashioned him, formed him as clay, poured him out like milk and curdled him like cheese, clothed him with skin and flesh, fenced him with bones and sinews, and granted life and favour; yet God destroys him, and Job says these things were hidden in God's heart. If he sins God marks him; wicked or righteous he cannot lift his head; he is full of confusion, and his affliction increases. God hunts him like a fierce lion, renews witnesses against him, and brings changes and war. Job asks why God brought him out of the womb, wishes he had died unseen and been carried from womb to grave, and asks God to cease and leave him alone so he can take a little comfort before he goes to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, where the light is as darkness.

Cited passages: Job 10:1, Job 10:2, Job 10:3, Job 10:4, Job 10:5, Job 10:6, Job 10:7, Job 10:8, Job 10:9, Job 10:10, Job 10:11, Job 10:12, Job 10:13, Job 10:14, Job 10:15, Job 10:16, Job 10:17, Job 10:18, Job 10:19, Job 10:20, Job 10:21, Job 10:22

Job 10 (KJV)

1My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

3Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

4Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

5Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,

6That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

7Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

8Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

10Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

11Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

12Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

13And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.

14If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

15If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

16For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

17Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.

18Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, 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.

20Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

21Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

22A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter has no narrator's line; it is the second half of the answer Job began at 9.1, and Zophar replies at 11.1. Nearly the whole chapter is addressed to God as thou; verse 2 introduces it as what Job will say unto God. Job's claim Thou knowest that I am not wicked is his own; the reader has the narrator's and the Lord's descriptions of Job in 1.1 and 1.8, but Job has no access to those. Job's account of his formation, clay, milk and cheese, skin, bones and sinews, describes God as the maker of his body and says nothing about his parents beyond the womb. The land of darkness is Job's expectation of where he is going, not a narrator's description. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion answers no specific charge; Eliphaz's lion images in 4.10 and 11 were about the wicked, and Job does not cite them. Job's wish that he had died unseen repeats the wish of 3.11 and 3.16.

Cited passages: Job 9:1, Job 11:1, Job 10:2, Job 10:7, Job 1:1, Job 1:8, Job 10:9, Job 10:10, Job 10:11, Job 10:18, Job 10:21, Job 10:22, Job 10:16, Job 4:10, Job 3:11, Job 3:16

Literary context

The chapter is a direct address that moves from demand to memory to plea. It opens by announcing its own bitterness and its first request, shew me wherefore thou contendest with me, which is the question the whole debate circles. The questions of verses 4 to 6, eyes of flesh, days like a man's, ask why an unhurried God should hurry to find fault. The middle section, verses 8 to 12, is a careful description of being made, clay, milk, cheese, skin, bones, life and favour, which makes the following yet thou dost destroy me and these things hast thou hid in thine heart land as accusation. The lion and the renewed witnesses turn God into hunter and prosecutor. The close returns to chapter 3's wish never to have been born, now addressed to God rather than to the day, and ends in a darkness without any order, and where the light is as darkness, the reverse of Eliphaz's promise in 5.24 of a tabernacle in peace and Bildad's promise in 8.21 of laughter.

Cited passages: Job 10:1, Job 10:2, Job 10:4, Job 10:5, Job 10:6, Job 10:8, Job 10:10, Job 10:12, Job 10:13, Job 10:16, Job 10:17, Job 10:18, Job 3:3, Job 10:22, Job 5:24, Job 8:21

Key moments

  1. Do not condemn me (Job 10:2). Job asks God to show him why he contends with him.
  2. Eyes of flesh? (Job 10:4). Job asks whether God sees as man sees.
  3. Thou knowest I am not wicked (Job 10:7). Job says God knows he is not wicked.
  4. Made as the clay (Job 10:9). Job reminds God that he formed him from clay.
  5. Hunted like a lion (Job 10:16). Job says God hunts him as a fierce lion.
  6. Why brought from the womb? (Job 10:18). Job asks why God brought him forth and wishes he had died unseen.
  7. Let me alone (Job 10:20). Job asks God to cease so he can take comfort before the land of darkness.

For reflection

Job tells God that he was made with care and is now being destroyed by the same hands. Is that memory of being made an argument, a reproach, or a form of trust, and can the reader tell from the text?