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² "If only my vexation could be well weighed,
and my calamity could be lifted up together with it in the balances,
³ for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
therefore my words have been rash,
⁴ for the arrows of Shaddai are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
⁵ Does the wild ass bray over grass,
or the ox bellow over its fodder?
⁶ Can tasteless food be eaten without^[b] salt,
or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?
⁷ I refused^[c] to touch them;
they are like food that will make me ill.^[d]
8 "O that^[e] my request may come,
and that God may grant my hope,
⁹ that^[f] God would decide that^[g] he would crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and kill me.^[h]
10 But^[i] it will still be my consolation,
and I would recoil in unrelenting^[j] pain,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
¹¹ What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should hold out?^[k]
12 Or is my strength like the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh bronze?
¹³ Indeed,^[l] my help is not in me,
and any success is driven from me.
¹⁴ "Loyal love^[m] should come for the afflicted from his friend,
even if^[n] he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.
¹⁵ My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed;
like a streambed of wadis^[o] they flow away,
¹⁶ which are growing dark because of ice upon them,
it will pile up snow.
¹⁷ In time they dry up, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸ The paths of their way wind around;
they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema looked;
the traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
²⁰ They are disappointed, because they trusted;
they came here^[p] and they are confounded.
²¹ "For now you^[q] have become such;^[r]
you see terrors, and you fear.
²² Is it because I have said, ‘Give to me,'
or,^[s] ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth'?
²³ or,^[t] ‘Save me from the foe's hand,'
or,^[u] ‘Ransom me from the tyrants' hand'?
²⁴ Teach me, and I myself^[v] will be silent;
and make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵ How painful are upright words!^[w]
But^[x] what does your reproof^[y] reprove?
²⁶ Do you intend to reprove my words^[z]
and consider the words of a desperate man as wind?
²⁷ Even over the orphan you would cast the lot,
and you would bargain over your friend.
²⁸ "Therefore^[aa] be prepared, turn to me,
and I surely will not lie to your face.^[ab]
29 Please turn, let no injustice happen;
indeed,^[ac] turn, my righteousness is still intact.^[ad]
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Or can my palate not discern calamity?^[ae]