GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New King James Version NKJV
1 "I hate my life. I will freely express my complaint. I will speak as bitterly as I feel.
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"My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, 'Don't condemn me. Let me know why you are quarreling with me.
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I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me.
3 What do you gain by mistreating me, by rejecting the work of your hands while you favor the plans of the wicked?
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Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do you actually have human eyes? Do you see as a mortal sees?
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Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees?
5 Are your days like a mortal's days? Are your years like a human's years?
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Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,
6 Is that why you look for guilt in me and search for sin in me?
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That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin,
7 You know I'm not guilty, but there is no one to rescue me from your hands.
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Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8 "'Your hands formed me and made every part of me, then you turned to destroy me.
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'Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me.
9 Please remember that you made me out of clay and that you will return me to the dust again.
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Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?
10 Didn't you pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
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Did you not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese,
11 Didn't you dress me in skin and flesh and weave me together with bones and tendons?
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Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews?
12 You gave me life and mercy. Your watchfulness has preserved my spirit.
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You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 But in your heart you hid these things. I know this is what you did.
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'And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You:
14 "'If I sin, you watch me and will not free me from my guilt.
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If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 How terrible it will be for me if I'm guilty! Even if I'm righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am filled with disgrace while I look on my misery.
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If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!
16 Like a proud, ferocious lion you hunt me down. You keep working your miracles against me.
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If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
17 You keep finding new witnesses against me. You keep increasing your anger toward me. You keep bringing new armies against me.
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You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me.
18 "'Why did you take me out of the womb? I wish I had breathed my last breath before anyone had laid eyes on me.
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'Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 Then it would be as if I had never existed, as if I had been carried from the womb to the tomb.
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I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 "'Isn't my life short enough? So stop [this], and leave me alone. Let me smile a little
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Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21 before I go away to a land of darkness and gloom,
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Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22 to a dismal land of long shadows and confusion where light is as bright as darkness. I'll never return.'"
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A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.' "