1 A nd Job answereth and saith: --

2 O that my provocation were thoroughly weighed, And my calamity in balances They would lift up together!

3 F or now, than the sands of the sea it is heavier, Therefore my words have been rash.

4 F or arrows of the Mighty with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves me!

5 B rayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender?

6 E aten is an insipid thing without salt? Is there sense in the drivel of dreams?

7 M y soul is refusing to touch! They as my sickening food.

8 O that my request may come, That God may grant my hope!

9 T hat God would please -- and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off!

10 A nd yet it is my comfort, (And I exult in pain -- He doth not spare,) That I have not hidden The sayings of the Holy One.

11 W hat my power that I should hope? And what mine end That I should prolong my life?

12 I s my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brazen?

13 I s not my help with me, And substance driven from me?

14 T o a despiser of his friends shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh.

15 M y brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away.

16 T hat are black because of ice, By them doth snow hide itself.

17 B y the time they are warm they have been cut off, By its being hot they have been Extinguished from their place.

18 T urn aside do the paths of their way, They ascend into emptiness, and are lost.

19 P assengers of Tema looked expectingly, Travellers of Sheba hoped for them.

20 T hey were ashamed that one hath trusted, They have come unto it and are confounded.

21 S urely now ye have become the same! Ye see a downfall, and are afraid.

22 I s it because I said, Give to me? And, By your power bribe for me?

23 A nd, Deliver me from the hand of an adversary? And, From the hand of terrible ones ransom me?

24 S hew me, and I -- I keep silent, And what I have erred, let me understand.

25 H ow powerful have been upright sayings, And what doth reproof from you reprove?

26 F or reproof -- do you reckon words? And for wind -- sayings of the desperate.

27 A nger on the fatherless ye cause to fall, And are strange to your friend.

28 A nd, now, please, look upon me, Even to your face do I lie?

29 T urn back, I pray you, let it not be perverseness, Yea, turn back again -- my righteousness in it.

30 I s there in my tongue perverseness? Discerneth not my palate desirable things?