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⁹Even that it would please God to crush me;

That He would let loose His hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰Then should I yet have comfort;

Yea, I would exult in pain, though He spare not;

For I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

 

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is mine end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh of brass?

¹³Is it that I have no help in me,

And that sound wisdom is driven quite from me?

 

¹⁴To him that is ready to faint kindness is due from his friend,

Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the channel of brooks that overflow,

¹⁶Which are black by reason of the ice,

And wherein the snow hideth itself;

¹⁷What time they wax warm, they vanish,

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way do wind,

They go up into the waste, and are lost.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them—

²⁰They were ashamed because they had hoped;

They came thither, and were confounded.

²¹For now ye are become His;

Ye see a terror, and are afraid.

²²Did I say: 'Give unto me'?

Or: 'Offer a present for me of your substance'?

²³or: 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand'?

Or: 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors'?

 

²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

And cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness!

But what doth your arguing argue?

²⁶Do ye hold words to be an argument,

But the speeches of one that is desperate to be wind?

²⁷Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless,

And dig a pit for your friend.

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look upon me;

For surely I shall not lie to your face.

²⁹Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice;

Yea, return again, my cause is righteous.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discern crafty devices?

 

7 Is there not a time of service to man upon earth?

And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

²As a servant that eagerly longeth for the shadow,

And as a hireling that looketh for his wages;

³So am I made to possess—months of vanity,

And wearisome nights are appointed to me.

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