Job’s Friends Are No Help

      1 Then Job answered,

2 “Oh that my grief were actually weighed
          And laid in the balances together with my calamity!

3 “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
          Therefore my words have been rash.

4 “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
          Their poison my spirit drinks;
          The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 “Does the wild 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 white of an egg?

7 “My soul refuses 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 willing 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 have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 “What is my strength, that I should wait?
          And what is my end, that I should endure?

12 “Is my strength the strength of stones,
          Or is my flesh bronze?

13 “Is it that my help is not within me,
          And that deliverance is driven from me?

14 “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;
          So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.

15 “My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,
          Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,

16 Which are turbid because of ice
          And into which the snow melts.

17 “When they become waterless, they are silent,
          When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18 “The paths of their course wind along,
          They go up into nothing and perish.

19 “The caravans of Tema looked,
          The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.

20 “They were disappointed for they had trusted,
          They came there and were confounded.

21 “Indeed, you have now become such,
          You 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 I 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 words of one in despair belong to the wind?

27 “You would even cast lots for the orphans
          And barter over your friend.

28 “Now please look at me,
          And see if I lie to your face.

29 “Desist now, let there be no injustice;
          Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.

30 “Is there injustice on my tongue?
          Cannot my palate discern calamities?