What does the chapter actually say?
Identify the explicit claims before importing later doctrine or assumptions.
JOB • CHAPTER 10
Job 10
Innocent suffering, divine justice, friendship, protest, wisdom, the limits of human explanation, and God's response from the whirlwind.
READ THE CHAPTER
Job 10
WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE
The complete biblical text below is stored on this website.
You do not need to leave The Bible for Smart People to read it.
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.
I will give free course to my complaint.
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2
I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.
Show me why you contend with me.
Show me why you contend with me.
3
Is 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?
that you should despise the work of your hands,
and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4
Do you have eyes of flesh?
Or do you see as man sees?
Or do you see as man sees?
5
Are your days as the days of mortals,
or your years as man’s years,
or your years as man’s years,
6
that you inquire after my iniquity,
and search after my sin?
and search after my sin?
7
Although you know that I am not wicked,
there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
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.
yet you destroy me.
9
Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
Will you bring me into dust again?
Will you bring me into dust again?
10
Haven’t you poured me out like milk,
and curdled me like cheese?
and curdled me like cheese?
11
You have clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12
You have granted me life and loving kindness.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13
Yet you hid these things in your heart.
I know that this is with you:
I know that this is with you:
14
if I sin, then you mark me.
You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
You will not acquit me from my iniquity.
15
If 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.
If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head,
being filled with disgrace,
and conscious of my affliction.
16
If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
17
You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your indignation on me.
Changes and warfare are with 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.
I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
19
I should have been as though I had not been.
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20
Aren’t my days few?
Stop!
Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
Stop!
Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
21
before I go where I will not return from,
to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22
the land dark as midnight,
of the shadow of death,
without any order,
where the light is as midnight.’ ”
of the shadow of death,
without any order,
where the light is as midnight.’ ”
WISDOM
Where this chapter fits
Job belongs to Israel's wisdom/poetic tradition, where literary form matters as much as historical setting.
Chapter numbers were added long after the biblical books were written.
Read this chapter together with what comes immediately before and after it.
ANCIENT TEXT, MODERN QUESTIONS
Historical claims should be compared with historical evidence.
Scientific claims should be compared with science.
Moral claims should be examined morally.
Theological claims require theological and philosophical argument.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Don't skip the hard parts.
What kind of literature is this?
Narrative, poetry, prophecy, law, letters, wisdom, and apocalypse communicate differently.
What historical evidence matters?
Ask whether names, places, institutions, events, customs, and chronology can be independently investigated.
What are the strongest competing interpretations?
Compare serious Jewish, Christian, academic, and skeptical readings rather than caricatures.
CONTINUE THE INVESTIGATION
You've reached the member analysis.
You can keep reading every Bible chapter on this site for free.
Membership unlocks the deeper analysis, historical context, competing interpretations, perspectives, and conclusion.
WANT TO KEEP READING FOR FREE?
Continue to Job 11
The complete biblical text of the next chapter is free to read.
You only need membership when you want the deeper analysis and side-by-side investigation.
READ NEXT CHAPTER FREEUNLOCK THE ANALYSIS
Already a member?
Sign in to continue →