• Job Answers Eliphaz

  • 1 Then Job answered and said,
  • 2 “Oh that my vexation were actually weighed And laid in the balances together with my destruction!
  • 3 “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; Therefore my words have been rash.
  • 4 “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, Their poison my spirit drinks; The horrors of God are arranged against me.
  • 5 “Does the wild donkey bray over his grass, Or does the ox low over his fodder?
  • 6 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, Or is there any taste in the slime of a yolk?
  • 7 “My 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 hope!
  • 9 “Would that God were willing to crush me, That He would release His hand and cut me off!
  • 10 “But it is still my comfort, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not at all hidden away the words of the Holy One.
  • 11 “What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should endure?
  • 12 “Is my strength the strength of stones, Or is my flesh bronze?
  • 13 “Is it that there is no help within me, And that the success of sound wisdom is driven from me?
  • 14 “For the despairing man lovingkindness should be from his friend; But he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
  • 15 “My brothers have betrayed me like a wadi, Like the torrents of wadis which pass away,
  • 16 Which grow dark because of ice And upon which the snow hides itself.
  • 17 “When they become waterless, they are silent; When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
  • 18 “The paths of their course wind along; They go up into a formless place and perish.
  • 19 “The caravans of Tema looked; The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.
  • 20 “They were ashamed for they had trusted; They came there and were humiliated.
  • 21 “Indeed, you have now become such; You see a terror and are afraid.
  • 22 “Have I said, ‘Give me something,’ Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’
  • 23 Or, ‘Give me escape from the hand of the adversary,’ Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless men’?
  • 24 “Instruct me, and I will be silent; And cause me to understand how I have erred.
  • 25 “How painful are upright words! But what does your reproof prove?
  • 26 “Do you think to reprove my words, Or think of the words of one in despair as wind?
  • 27 “You would even cast lots for the orphans And bargain over your friend.
  • 28 “So now be willing to face me, And see if I lie to your face.
  • 29 “Now turn from this, let there be no unrighteousness; Even turn from this, my righteousness is yet in it.
  • 30 “Is there unrighteousness on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern destruction?