✧Then Job answered and said, ✧2Oh that my vexation were but weighed, And all my calamity laid in the balances! ✧3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas: Therefore have my words been rash. ✧4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. ✧5Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder? ✧6Can that which hath no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? ✧7My soul refuseth to touch [them]; They are as loathsome food to me. ✧8Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for! ✧9Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! ✧10And be it still my consolation, Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One. ✧11What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient? ✧12Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? ✧13Is it not that I have no help in me, And that wisdom is driven quite from me? ✧14To him that is ready to faint kindness [should be showed] from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. ✧15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away; ✧16Which are black by reason of the ice, [And] wherein the snow hideth itself: ✧17What time they wax warm, they vanish; When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. ✧18The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish. ✧19The caravans of Tema looked, The companies of Sheba waited for them. ✧20They were put to shame because they had hoped; They came thither, and were confounded. ✧21For now ye are nothing; Ye see a terror, and are afraid. ✧22Did I say, Give unto me? Or, Offer a present for me of your substance? ✧23Or, Deliver me from the adversary’s hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors? ✧24Teach me, and I will hold my peace; And cause me to understand wherein I have erred. ✧25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what doth it reprove? ✧26Do ye think to reprove words, Seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind? ✧27Yea, ye would cast [lots] upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend. ✧28Now therefore be pleased to look upon me; For surely I shall not lie to your face. ✧29Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice; Yea, return again, my cause is righteous. ✧30Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?