Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

¹But Job answered:

²“Oh, that my grief were fully weighed,

and my calamity laid with it on the scales!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;[#Pr 27:3]

therefore my words are stuck in my throat.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;[#Ps 38:2]

my spirit drinks in their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?

Or the ox bellow over his fodder?

⁶Is tasteless food eaten without salt?[#Lev 2:13; Col 4:6]

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them;

they are like loathsome food to me.

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request,

and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹That it would please God to crush me,

that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then I would still have comfort;

I would revel in pain; it will not subside,

for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“What strength do I have, 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 brass?

¹³Is there no help within me?

And is success banished from me?

¹⁴“A despairing man should be shown kindness from his friend,[#Pr 17:17]

or he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have acted deceitfully like a riverbed,[#Ps 38:11]

like the streams of the riverbeds that run dry;

¹⁶which are dark because of the ice,

and into which the snow disappears.

¹⁷In time they are scorched; they vanish!

When it is hot, they disappear from their place.

¹⁸The caravans of their way turn aside;

they go nowhere, and they perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked,[#Ge 25:15; Isa 21:14]

the travelers of Sheba hoped for them.

²⁰They were disappointed because they were confident;

they arrived there and were dismayed.

²¹For now you are nothing;

you see terror and are afraid.

²²Did I say, ‘Give to me’?

Or, ‘Out of your wealth, bribe me’?

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the power of the enemy’?

Or, ‘From the power of the oppressors, liberate me’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue,

and make me understand how I have erred.

²⁵How forceful are right words!

But what does your arguing prove?

²⁶Do you mean to correct my words,

and treat my desperate words as wind?

²⁷Yes, you cast lots for the fatherless,[#Job 22:9; 24:3]

and you bargain over your friend.

²⁸“And now, please give me your attention,

for surely I will not lie to you.

²⁹Turn, I pray, let there be no injustice!

Yes, turn again, my righteousness still stands!

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discern pernicious things?