| 1 | And Job answereth and saith: -- |
| 2 | O that my provocation were thoroughly weighed, And my calamity in balances They would lift up together! |
| 3 | For now, than the sands of the sea it is heavier, Therefore my words have been rash. |
| 4 | For arrows of the Mighty [are] with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves [for] me! |
| 5 | Brayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender? |
| 6 | Eaten is an insipid thing without salt? Is there sense in the drivel of dreams? |
| 7 | My soul is refusing to touch! They [are] as my sickening food. |
| 8 | O that my request may come, That God may grant my hope! |
| 9 | That God would please—and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off! |
| 10 | And yet it is my comfort, (And I exult in pain—He doth not spare,) That I have not hidden The sayings of the Holy One. |
| 11 | What [is] my power that I should hope? And what mine end That I should prolong my life? |
| 12 | Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brazen? |
| 13 | Is not my help with me, And substance driven from me? |
| 14 | To a despiser of his friends [is] shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh. |
| 15 | My brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away. |
| 16 | That are black because of ice, By them doth snow hide itself. |
| 17 | By the time they are warm they have been cut off, By its being hot they have been Extinguished from their place. |
| 18 | Turn aside do the paths of their way, They ascend into emptiness, and are lost. |
| 19 | Passengers of Tema looked expectingly, Travellers of Sheba hoped for them. |
| 20 | They were ashamed that one hath trusted, They have come unto it and are confounded. |
| 21 | Surely now ye have become the same! Ye see a downfall, and are afraid. |
| 22 | Is it because I said, Give to me? And, By your power bribe for me? |
| 23 | And, Deliver me from the hand of an adversary? And, From the hand of terrible ones ransom me? |
| 24 | Shew me, and I—I keep silent, And what I have erred, let me understand. |
| 25 | How powerful have been upright sayings, And what doth reproof from you reprove? |
| 26 | For reproof—do you reckon words? And for wind—sayings of the desperate. |
| 27 | Anger on the fatherless ye cause to fall, And are strange to your friend. |
| 28 | And, now, please, look upon me, Even to your face do I lie? |
| 29 | Turn back, I pray you, let it not be perverseness, Yea, turn back again—my righteousness [is] in it. |
| 30 | Is there in my tongue perverseness? Discerneth not my palate desirable things? |