¹Then Job answered,

• ²“Oh that my anguish were weighed,
• and all my calamity laid in the balances!

• ³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,
• therefore have my words been rash.

• ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me.
• My spirit drinks up their poison.

• The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
• ⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?

• Or does the ox low over his fodder?
• ⁶Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?

• Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
• ⁷My soul refuses to touch them.

• They are as loathsome food to me.

• ⁸“Oh that I might have my request,
• that God would grant the thing that I long for,

• ⁹even that it would please God to crush me;
• that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

• ¹⁰Be it still my consolation,
• yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare,
• that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

• ¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?
• What is my end, that I should be patient?

• ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?
• Or is my flesh of brass?

• ¹³Isn’t it that I have no help in me,
• That wisdom is driven quite from me?

• ¹⁴“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;
• even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

• ¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
• as the channel of brooks that pass away;

• ¹⁶Which are black by reason of the ice,
• in which the snow hides itself.

• ¹⁷In the dry season, they vanish.
• When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

• ¹⁸The caravans that travel beside them turn aside.
• They go up into the waste, and perish.

• ¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked.
• The companies of Sheba waited for them.

• ²⁰They were distressed because they were confident.
• They came there, and were confounded.

• ²¹For now you are nothing.
• You see a terror, and are afraid.

• ²²Did I say, ‘Give to me?’
• or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’

• ²³or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’
• or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’

• ²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my peace.
• Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

• ²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness!
• But your reproof, what does it reprove?

• ²⁶Do you intend to reprove words,
• since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

• ²⁷Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,
• and make merchandise of your friend.

• ²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look at me,
• for surely I shall not lie to your face.

• ²⁹Please return.
• Let there be no injustice.
• Yes, return again.
• My cause is righteous.

• ³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?
• Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?