Study Desk

"^(F1)(C1)I am disgusted with my own life; I will express ^(C2)my complaint freely; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

-"I will say to God, '^(C1)Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.

-'Is it ^(F1)right for You indeed to ^(C1)oppress, To reject ^(C2)the work of Your hands, And ^(F2)to look favorably on ^(C3)the plan of the wicked?

-'Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You ^(C1)see as mankind sees?

-'Are Your days like the days of a mortal, Or ^(C1)Your years like a man's year,

That ^(C1)You should search for my guilt And carefully seek my sin?

-'According to Your knowledge ^(C1)I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is ^(C2)no one to save me from Your hand.

'^(C1)Your hands fashioned and made me ^(F1)altogether, ^(C2)Yet would You destroy me?

-'Remember that You have made me as ^(C1)clay; Yet would You ^(C2)turn me into dust again?

-'Did You not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese,

Clothe me with skin and flesh, And intertwine me with bones and tendons?

-'You have ^(C1)granted me life and ^(F1)goodness; And Your care has guarded my spirit.

-'Yet You have concealed ^(C1)these things in Your heart; I know that this is within You:

If I have sinned, You will ^(C1)take note of me, And ^(C2)will not acquit me of my guilt.

-'If ^(C1)I am wicked, woe to me! But if ^(C2)I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am full of shame, and ^(F1)conscious of my misery.

-'And should my head be high, ^(C1)You would hunt me like a lion; And You would show Your ^(C2)power against me again.

-'You renew ^(C1)Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; ^(F1)(C2)Hardship after hardship is with me.

'^(C1)Why then did You bring me out of the womb? If only I had died and no eye had seen me!

-'I should have been as though I had not been, Brought from womb to tomb.'

-"Would He not leave ^(C1)my few days alone? ^(F1)(C2)Withdraw from me so that I may have a little cheerfulness

Before I go—^(C1)and I shall not return— ^(C2)To the land of darkness and ^(C3)deep shadow,

The land of utter gloom like darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And it shines like darkness."