1 Then Job answered and said,
2 "If only my vexation could be well weighed, and my calamity could be lifted up together [with it] in [the] balances,
3 for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been rash,
4 for the arrows of Shaddai [are] in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does [the] wild ass bray over grass, or [the] ox bellow over its fodder?
6 Can tasteless [food] be eaten without salt, or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?
7 {I refused} to touch [them]; they [are] like {food that will make me ill}.
8 "{O that} my request may come, and [that] God may grant my hope,
9 that God would decide that he would crush me, [that] he would let loose his hand and {kill me}.
10 But it will still be my consolation, and I would recoil in {unrelenting} pain, for 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 hold out}?
12 Or [is] my strength [like] the strength of stones? Or [is] my flesh bronze?
13 {Indeed}, my help is not in me, and [any] success is driven from me.
14 "Loyal love [should come] for the afflicted [from] his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed; like a streambed of wadis they flow away,
16 which are growing dark because of ice upon them, it will pile up snow.
17 In time they dry up, they disappear; when it [is] hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way wind [around]; they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.
19 The caravans of Tema looked; the traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
20 They are disappointed, because they trusted; they came {here} and they are confounded.
21 "For now you have become {such}; you see terrors, and you fear.
22 Is it because I have said, 'Give to me,' or, 'Offer a bribe for me from your wealth'?
23 or, 'Save me from the foe's hand,' or, 'Ransom me from the tyrants' hand'?
24 Teach me, and I myself will be silent; and make me understand how I have gone astray.
25 How painful are {upright words}! But what does {your reproof} reprove?
26 Do you intend to reprove [my] words and [consider the] words of a desperate [man] as wind?
27 Even over [the] orphan you would cast the lot, and you would bargain over your friend.