Job’s Friends Are No Help

1 Then Job 1answered,

2 “aOh that my grief were actually weighed

And laid in the balances together with my calamity!

3 “For then it would be aheavier than the sand of the seas;

Therefore my words have been rash.

4 “For the aarrows of the Almighty are within me,

1Their bpoison my spirit drinks;

The cterrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 “Does the awild donkey bray over his grass,

Or does the ox low over his fodder?

6 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,

Or is there any taste in the 1white of an egg?

7 “My soul arefuses to touch them;

They are like loathsome food to me.

8 “Oh that my request might come to pass,

And that God would grant my longing!

9 “Would that God were awilling to crush me,

That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

10 “But it is still my consolation,

And I rejoice in unsparing pain,

That I ahave not 1denied the words of the Holy One.

11 “What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should 1aendure?

12 “Is my strength the strength of stones,

Or is my flesh bronze?

13 “Is it that my ahelp is not within me,

And that 1bdeliverance is driven from me?

14 “For the adespairing man there should be kindness from his friend;

So that he does not bforsake the 1fear of the Almighty.

15 “My brothers have acted adeceitfully like a 1wadi,

Like the torrents of 1wadis which vanish,

16 Which are turbid because of ice

And into which the snow 1melts.

17 “When athey become waterless, they 1are silent,

When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18 “The 1paths of their course wind along,

They go up into nothing and perish.

19 “The caravans of aTema looked,

The travelers of bSheba hoped for them.

20 “They awere 1disappointed for they had trusted,

They came there and were confounded.

21 “Indeed, you have now become such,

aYou see a terror and are afraid.

22 “Have I said, ‘Give me something,’

Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’

23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the hand of the adversary,’

Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?

24 “Teach me, and aI will be silent;

And show me how I have erred.

25 “How painful are honest words!

But what does your argument prove?

26 “Do you intend to reprove my words,

When the awords of one in despair belong to the wind?

27 “You would even acast lots for bthe orphans

And cbarter over your friend.

28 “Now please look at me,

And see if I alie to your face.

29 “Desist now, let there be no injustice;

Even desist, amy righteousness is yet in it.

30 “Is there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot amy palate discern 1calamities?