Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Oh that my vexation were weighed,

and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For then it would be heavier than zthe sand of the sea;

therefore my words have been rash.

⁴For athe arrows of the Almighty are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,

or the ox low over his fodder?

⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,

or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?1

⁷My appetite refuses to touch them;

they are as food that is loathsome to me.2

⁸“Oh that I might have my request,

and that God would fulfill my hope,

⁹that it would bplease God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

¹⁰This would be my comfort;

I would even exult3 in pain cunsparing,

for I have not denied the words of dthe Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Have I any help in me,

when resource is driven from me?

¹⁴“He who ewithholds4 kindness from a ffriend

forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My gbrothers are htreacherous as a torrent-bed,

as torrential istreams that pass away,

¹⁶which are dark with ice,

and where the snow hides itself.

¹⁷When they melt, they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;

they go up into jthe waste and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of kTema look,

the travelers of lSheba hope.

²⁰They are mashamed because they were confident;

they come there and are mdisappointed.

²¹For you have now become nothing;

you see my calamity and are afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?

Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’?

Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of nthe ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent;

make me understand how I have gone astray.

²⁵How forceful are upright words!

But what does reproof from you reprove?

²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,

when the speech of a despairing man is owind?

²⁷You would even pcast lots over the fatherless,

and bargain over your friend.

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me,

for I will not lie to your face.

²⁹qPlease turn; let no injustice be done.

Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

³⁰Is there any injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?