Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

1And Job answered and said:

2“If only my grief and my calamity could be weighed thoroughly,

lifting it up together in the balances!

3For now it is heavy, more than the sand of the sea;

and upon thus my words have been rash.

4For the arrows of Shaddai† are within me,

whose poison my spirit is drinking in;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5Does the wild donkey bray over its grass?

Or the ox bellow over its fodder?

6Is the unsavory eaten without salt?

Or is there flavor in the white of an egg?†

7My soul refuses to touch them;

they are are like disease in my food.

8Who shall grant that my request would come?

That God may grant my hope!

9If God were willing to crush me,

to let loose His hand and cut me off!

10And yet this would be my comfort,

and I would leap for joy in my anguish—he does not spare,

for I have not concealed

the words of the Holy One.

11What is my strength, that I should hope?

And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

12Is my strength the strength of stones,

or is my flesh made of bronze?

13Is there no help for me in me,

when success has been taken away from me?

14To one despairing from his friends there should be kindness,

and the fear of Shaddai he forsakes.

15My brothers are treacherous like a wadi,

like a channel of wadis they pass away,

16those being darkened from the ice,

upon which the snow hides itself.

17In the time of burning heat they are cut off;

in the heat they are extinguished from their place.

18The caravans turn aside from their paths;

they go up into the wasteland and perish.

19The caravans of Tema look on;

the travelers of Sheba hope for them.

20They are ashamed that they had trusted;

they come unto her and are confounded.

21For now you⁺ are nothing;

you⁺ see terror, and you⁺ are afraid.

22Is it that I said, ‘Give to me,

or from your⁺ strength offer a bribe on my behalf?

23Or Deliver me from the hand of the enemy,

or ransom me from the hand of dreadful ones’?

24teach me, and I will be silent,

and give understanding to me of how I have gone astray.

25How painful are upright words!

Yet what does your⁺ argument prove?

26Do you⁺ think to correct my words?

And are the sayings of one despairing for wind?

27Indeed, over the fatherless you⁺ make it fall,

and you⁺ would trade away your⁺ friend.

28And now, may you be willing to turn toward me,

or would I lie to your⁺ face?

29Turn, please, let there not be injustice;

and turn even now—my righteousness is in it.

30Is there injustice on my tongue?

Can my palate not discern malice?