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- Then Job answered and said:
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- Oh that my vexation were but weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances altogether!
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- For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
therefore are my words broken.
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- For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof my spirit drinketh up;
the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
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- Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?
or loweth the ox over his fodder?
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- Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt?
or is there any taste in the juice of mallows?
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- My soul refuseth to touch them;
they are as the sickness of my flesh.
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- Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
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- Even that it would please God to crush me;
that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off!
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- Then should I yet have comfort;
yea, I would exult in pain, though He spare not;
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
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- What is my strength, that I should wait?
and what is mine end, that I should be patient?
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- Is my strength the strength of stones?
or is my flesh of brass?
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- Is it that I have no help in me, and that sound wisdom is driven quite from me?
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- To him that is ready to faint kindness is due from his friend, even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
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- My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that overflow,
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- Which are black by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow hideth itself;
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- What time they wax warm, they vanish, when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
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- The paths of their way do wind, they go up into the waste, and are lost.
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- The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them -
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- They were ashamed because they had hoped;
they came thither, and were confounded.
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- For now ye are become His;
ye see a terror, and are afraid.
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- Did I say: "Give unto me"?
or: "Offer a present for me of your substance"?
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- or: "Deliver me from the adversary"s hand"?
or: "Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors"?
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- Teach me, and I will hold my peace;
and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
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- How forcible are words of uprightness!
But what doth your arguing argue?
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- Do ye hold words to be an argument, but the speeches of one that is desperate to be wind?
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- Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, and dig a pit for your friend.
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- Now therefore be pleased to look upon me;
for surely I shall not lie to your face.
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- Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice;
yea, return again, my cause is righteous.
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- Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern crafty devices?
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