1 An Appeal for Revelation“I am weary of my life;I will complain freely without restraint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;tell me why you are contending with me.’3 Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands,while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? Motivations of God4 “Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human being sees?5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,or your years like the years of a mortal,6 that you must search out my iniquityand inquire about my sin,7 although you know that I am not guilty,and that there is no one who can deliver out of your hand? Contradictions in God’s Dealings8 “Your hands have shaped me and made me,but now you destroy me completely.9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay;will you return me to dust?10 Did you not pour me out like milkand curdle me like cheese?11 You clothed me with skin and fleshand knit me together with bones and sinews.12 You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit.13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart;I know that this is with you:14 If I sinned, then you would watch me,and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.15 If I am guilty, woe to me,and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head; I am full of shame and satiated with my affliction.16 If I lift myself up, you hunt me as a fierce lion, and again you display your power against me.17 You bring new witnesses against meand increase your anger against me;relief troops come against me. An Appeal for Relief18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb?I should have died, and no eye would have seen me!19 I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carriedright from the womb to the grave!20 Are not my days few? Cease, then, and leave me alone that I may find a little comfort,21 before I depart, never to return, to the land of darknessand the deepest shadow,22 to the land of utter darkness,like the deepest darkness,and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”