1Then Job responded:

2“If my grief could be weighed and my troubles placed on the scales

3they would be heavier than the sand of the sea. That's why I spoke so rashly.

4For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; their poison saps my spirit. God's terrors are lined ²⁵up against me.

5Don't wild donkeys bray when their grass is gone? Don't cattle groan when they don't have food! ²⁶

6Can something that's tasteless be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7I just can't touch any food—even the thought makes me feel sick!

8Oh, if only I could have what I really want, that God would give me what I most desire—

9that God would be willing to crush me to death, that he would just let me die!

10But it still comforts me to know, making me happy through the never-ending pain, that I have never rejected the words of God. ²⁷

11Why should I go on waiting when I don't have the strength? Why should I keep going when I don't know what is going to happen to me?

12Am I as strong as rock? Am I made out of bronze?

13How can I help myself now that any chance of success is ripped ²⁸away from me?

14Anyone who isn't kind to a friend has given up respecting the Almighty.

15My brothers ²⁹have acted as deceptively as a desert stream, rushing waters in the desert that vanish.

16The stream floods when it is full of dark ice and melting snow,

17but in the heat it dries up and disappears, vanishing from where it once was.

18Camel caravans turn aside to look for water, but don't find any and they die.

19Caravans from Tema looked, travelers from Sheba were confident,

20but their hopes were dashed—they came and found nothing.

21Now you are no help, just like that ³⁰—you see my trouble and you're afraid.

22Have I asked you for anything? Have I told you to bribe ³¹anyone for me from your wealth?

23Have I asked you to rescue me from an enemy? Have I told you to save me from my oppressors?

24Explain this to me, and I'll be quiet. Show me where I'm wrong.

25Honest words are painful, ³²but what do your arguments prove?

26Are you going to argue over what I said, when the words of someone in despair should be left to blow away in the wind?

27You would play dice to win an orphan; you would bargain away your friend!

28Look me in the eye and see if I'm lying to your face!

29Don't talk like this! ³³Don't be unjust! What I'm saying is right.

30I'm not telling lies—don't you think I wouldn't know if I was wrong?” ³⁴