Job’s Friends Are No Help
1Then Job answered,
2“Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
3For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
Therefore my words have been rash.
4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
Their poison my spirit drinks;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5Does the wild donkey bray over his grass,
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7My 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!
9Would that God were willing to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
10But it is still my consolation,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should endure?
12Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
13Is 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.
15My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,
Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,
16Which are turbid because of ice
And into which the snow melts.
17When they become waterless, they are silent,
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18The paths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.
19The caravans of Tema looked,
The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.
20They were disappointed for they had trusted,
They came there and were confounded.
21Indeed, you have now become such,
You see a terror and are afraid.
22Have I said, ‘Give me something,’
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’
23Or, ‘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.
25How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?
26Do you intend to reprove my words,
When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?
27You would even cast lots for the orphans
And barter over your friend.
28Now please look at me,
And see if I lie to your face.
29Desist now, let there be no injustice;
Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.
30Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern calamities?