Job

¹ Then Job answered and said,

² And laid in the balances together with my destruction!

³ Therefore my words have been rash.

⁴ Their poison my spirit drinks; The horrors of God are arranged against me.

⁵ Or does the ox low over his fodder?

⁶ Or is there any taste in the slime of a yolk?

⁷ They are like loathsome food to me.

⁸ And that God would grant my hope!

⁹ That He would release His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰ And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not at all hidden away the words of the Holy One.

¹¹ And what is my end, that I should endure?

¹² Or is my flesh bronze?

¹³ And that the success of sound wisdom is driven from me?

¹⁴ But he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵ Like the torrents of wadis which pass away,

¹⁶ And upon which the snow hides itself.

¹⁷ When it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸ They go up into a formless place and perish.

¹⁹ The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.

²⁰ They came there and were humiliated.

²¹ You see a terror and are afraid.

²² Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’

²³ Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless men’?

²⁴ And cause me to understand how I have erred.

²⁵ But what does your reproof prove?

²⁶ Or think of the words of one in despair as wind?

²⁷ And bargain over your friend.

²⁸ And see if I lie to your face.

²⁹ Even turn from this, my righteousness is yet in it.

³⁰ Cannot my palate discern destruction?