Job Answers Eliphaz
Then Job answered and said,
2 “aOh that my vexation were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my destruction!
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,
Their bpoison my spirit drinks;
The chorrors of God are arranged 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 slime of a yolk?
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 hope!
9 Would that God were awilling to crush me,
That He would release His hand and cut me off!
10 But it is still my comfort,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I ahave not at all hidden away the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should aendure?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is it that there is no ahelp within me,
And that the bsuccess of sound wisdom is driven from me?
14 “For the adespairing man lovingkindness should be from his friend;
But he bforsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have abetrayed me like a wadi,
Like the torrents of wadis which pass away,
16 Which grow dark because of ice
And upon which the snow hides itself.
17 When athey 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 a formless place and perish.
19 The caravans of aTema looked;
The travelers of bSheba hoped for them.
20 They awere ashamed for they had trusted;
They came there and were humiliated.
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, ‘Give me escape from the hand of the adversary,’
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless men’?
24 “Instruct me, and aI will be silent;
And cause me to understand how I have erred.
25 How painful are upright words!
But what does your reproof prove?
26 Do you think to reprove my words,
Or think of the awords of one in despair as wind?
27 You would even acast lots for bthe orphans
And cbargain over your friend.
28 So now be willing to face me,
And see if I alie to your face.
29 Now turn from this, let there be no unrighteousness;
Even turn from this, amy righteousness is yet in it.
30 Is there unrighteousness on my tongue?
Cannot amy palate discern destruction?