¹Then Job answered and said:

²If only my vexation were fully weighed, and my destruction lifted up together on the scales!

³For now it is heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are gulped down.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, whose poison my breath drinks; the terrors of God are drawn up against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray over grass, or an ox low over its fodder?

⁶Can tasteless food be eaten without salt, or is there taste in the slimy juice of purslane?

⁷My being refuses to touch them; they are like the sickness of my food.

⁸If only my request would come, and God would give me my hope!

⁹May God be willing and crush me, may he loosen his hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then it would be still my comfort, and I would leap in anguish that does not spare; for I have not hidden the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should prolong my being?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh bronze?

¹³Is my help not in me, and is sound wisdom banished from me?

¹⁴To the despairing, loyal love from his friend—otherwise he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have betrayed like a wadi, like the channel of wadis that pass by.

¹⁶Those who are dark with frost, over whom the snow hides itself.

¹⁷In the time they are scorched, they are put to an end; in its warmth they are extinguished from their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way turn aside; they go up into the formless and perish.

¹⁹The wayfarers of Tema look; the traveling companies of Sheba wait eagerly for them.

²⁰They were ashamed, for each had trusted; they came as far as it and were abashed.

²¹For now you have become like it; you see terror, and you are afraid.

²²Did I say, 'Give to me,' and 'From your means pay a bribe on my behalf'?

²³And 'Rescue me from the hand of an enemy,' and 'Ransom me from the hand of the ruthless'?

²⁴Instruct me, and I will keep silent; make me understand in what I have gone astray.

²⁵How painful are upright words! And what does reproof from you prove?

²⁶Do you reckon to reprove words, while the words of one who despairs go to the wind?

²⁷You would even cast lots over an orphan and haggle over your friend.

²⁸And now, be willing: turn toward me; and to your faces — would I lie?

²⁹Turn back, please; let there be no injustice. Turn back, and still my righteousness is in it.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue, or does my palate not discern ruin?