1: Then Job answered and said, 2: Oh that my vexation were but weighed, And all my calamity laid in the balances! 3: For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas: Therefore have my words been rash. 4: 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. 5: Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6: Can that which hath no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7: My soul refuseth to touch [them]; They are as loathsome food to me. 8: Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for! 9: Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! 10: And be it still my consolation, Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11: What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient? 12: Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? 13: Is it not that I have no help in me, And that wisdom is driven quite from me? 14: To him that is ready to faint kindness [should be showed] from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. 15: My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away; 16: Which are black by reason of the ice, [And] wherein the snow hideth itself: 17: What time they wax warm, they vanish; When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 18: The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish. 19: The caravans of Tema looked, The companies of Sheba waited for them. 20: They were put to shame because they had hoped; They came thither, and were confounded. 21: For now ye are nothing; Ye see a terror, and are afraid. 22: Did I say, Give unto me? Or, Offer a present for me of your substance? 23: Or, 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; And cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25: How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what doth it reprove? 26: Do ye think to reprove words, Seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind? 27: Yea, ye would cast [lots] upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend. 28: Now therefore be pleased to look upon me; For surely I shall not lie to your face. 29: Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice; Yea, return again, my cause is righteous. 30: Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?
