¹ Job spoke next. He said:

² If only my misery could be weighed, and all my ills be put together on the scales!

³ But they outweigh the sands of the seas: what wonder then if my words are wild?

⁴ The arrows of Shaddai stick fast in me, my spirit absorbs their poison, God's terrors stand paraded against me.

⁵ Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox low when its fodder is within reach?

⁶ Is not food insipid, eaten without salt, is there any taste in egg-white?

⁷ But the very things my appetite revolts at are now my diet in sickness.

⁸ Will no one hear my prayer, will not God himself grant my hope?

⁹ May it please God to crush me, to give his hand free play and do away with me!

¹⁰ This thought, at least, would give me comfort (a thrill of joy in unrelenting pain), that I never rebelled against the Holy One's decrees.

¹¹ But have I the strength to go on waiting? And why be patient, when doomed to such an end?

¹² Is mine the strength of stone, is my flesh made of bronze?

¹³ Can I support myself on nothing? Has not all help deserted me?

¹⁴ Refuse faithful love to your neighbour and you forsake the fear of Shaddai.

¹⁵ Like the torrent, my brothers have proved deceptive, as fleeting torrents they flow:

¹⁶ the ice makes their waters turgid when, above them, the snow melts,

¹⁷ but, come the burning summer, they run dry, they vanish in the heat of the sun.

¹⁸ Caravans leave the trail to find them, go deep into wastelands, and are lost.

¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look to them, and on them Sheba's convoys build their hopes.

²⁰ Their trust brings only embarrassment, they reach them only to be thwarted.

²¹ And this is how you now treat me, terrified at the sight of me, you take fright.

²² Have I said to you, 'Give me something, make some present for me at your own cost,

²³ snatch me from the grasp of an oppressor, ransom me from the grip of a violent man'?

²⁴ Put me right, and I shall say no more; show me where I have been at fault.

²⁵ Fair comment can be borne without resentment, but what are your strictures aimed at?

²⁶ Do you think mere words deserve censure, desperate speech that the wind blows away?

²⁷ Soon you will be haggling over the price of an orphan, and selling your friend at bargain price!

²⁸ Come, I beg you, look at me: man to man, I shall not lie.

²⁹ Relent then, no harm is done; relent then, since I am upright.

³⁰ Is evil to be found on my lips? Can I not recognise misfortune when I taste it?