Job

1-2If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales,

3they would weigh more than the sands of the sea,

so my wild words should not surprise you.

4Almighty God has pierced me with arrows,

and their poison spreads through my body.

God has lined up his terrors against me.

5A donkey is content when eating grass,

and a cow is quiet when eating hay.

6But who can eat tasteless, unsalted food?

What flavour is there in the white of an egg?

7I have no appetite for food like that,

and everything I eat makes me sick.6.7 Probable text sick; Hebrew unclear.

8Why won't God give me what I ask?

Why won't he answer my prayer?

9If only he would go ahead and kill me!

10If I knew he would, I would leap for joy,

no matter how great my pain.

I know that God is holy;

I have never opposed what he commands.

11What strength have I got to keep on living?

Why go on living when I have no hope?

12Am I made of stone? Is my body bronze?

13I have no strength left to save myself;

there is nowhere I can turn for help.

14In trouble6.14 Probable text trouble; Hebrew unclear. like this I need loyal friends —

whether I've forsaken God or not.

15But you, my friends, you deceive me like streams

that go dry when no rain comes.

16The streams are choked with snow and ice,

17but in the heat they disappear,

and the stream beds lie bare and dry.

18Caravans get lost looking for water;

they wander and die in the desert.

19Caravans from Sheba and Tema search,

20but their hope dies beside dry streams.

21You are like6.21 Probable text like; Hebrew because. those streams to me,6.21 Some ancient translations and one; Hebrew manuscript to me; most Hebrew manuscripts have two different expressions: nothing in the text and to him in the margin.

you see my fate and draw back in fear.

22Have I asked you to give me a gift

or to bribe someone on my behalf

23or to save me from some enemy or tyrant?

24All right, teach me; tell me my faults.

I will be quiet and listen to you.

25Honest words are convincing,

but you are talking nonsense.

26You think I am talking nothing but wind;

then why do you answer my words of despair?

27You would even throw dice for orphan slaves

and make yourselves rich off your closest friends!

28Look me in the face. I won't lie.

29You have gone far enough. Stop being unjust.

Don't condemn me. I'm in the right.

30But you think I am lying —

you think I can't tell right from wrong.