1: And Job answered and said, 2: Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 3: For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are vehement. 4: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God are arrayed against me. 5: Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder? 6: Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7: What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food. 8: Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire! 9: And that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! 10: Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11: What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should have patience? 12: Is my strength the strength of stones? is my flesh of brass? 13: Is it not that there is no help in me, and soundness is driven away from me? 14: For him that is fainting kindness [is meet] from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. 15: My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away, 16: Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself: 17: At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place: 18: They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish. 19: The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba counted on them: 20: They are ashamed at their hope; they come thither, and are confounded. 21: So now ye are nothing; ye see a terrible object and are afraid. 22: Did I say, Bring unto me, and make me a present from your substance? 23: Or, rescue me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hand of the violent? 24: Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25: How forcible are right words! but what doth your upbraiding reprove? 26: Do ye imagine to reprove words? The speeches of one that is desperate are indeed for the wind. 27: Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and dig [a pit] for your friend. 28: Now therefore if ye will, look upon me; and it shall be to your face if I lie. 29: Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it. 30: Is there wrong in my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?
