and sat with Job on the ground for a full week without saying a word, since they could see the great extent of his anguish.

It remained standing, but I couldn't recognize its appearance. A form appeared before my eyes; At first there was silence, and then this voice:

"If only my grief could be weighed; or my calamity piled together on a balance scale!

At least I could still take comfort and rejoice in unceasing anguish, for I didn't conceal what the Holy One has to say.

Indeed, if he snatches someone away, who could restrain him? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?'

"I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you

"I wish I could go back to how things were a few months ago; when God used to watch over me,

when his lamp used to shine over my head, so I could walk through the dark,

I smiled at them when they had no confidence, and no one could discourage me.

Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone?

Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated.

"You spoke clearly so I could hear; I've heard what you've said:

His flesh wastes away; his bones, which once couldn't be seen, are visible.

No one could find more beautiful women in the whole land than Job's daughters. Their father gave them their inheritance along with their brothers.