Study Desk

"I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain.

Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands.

If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I'm innocent, I can't hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery.

You claim, ‘My beliefs are pure,' and ‘I am clean in the sight of God.'

Well, I know a few things myself— and you're no better than I am. Who doesn't know these things you've been saying?

Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me.

I know as much as you do. You are no better than I am.

God might kill me, but I have no other hope. I am going to argue my case with him.

But this is what will save me—I am not godless. If I were, I could not stand before him.

"Listen closely to what I am about to say. Hear me out.

I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me.

My eyes are swollen with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self.

You think you're better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.

He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.

My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.

My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family.

I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!

"I must reply because I am greatly disturbed.

"Listen closely to what I am saying. That's one consolation you can give me.

When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.