Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

6Then Job answered:
²‘O that my vexation were weighed,
   and all my calamity laid in the balances!
³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
   therefore my words have been rash.
⁴For the arrows of the Almighty^* are in me;
   my spirit drinks their poison;
   the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
⁸‘O that I might have my request,
   and that God would grant my desire;
⁹that it would please God to crush me,
   that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
¹⁰This would be my consolation;
   I would even exult^* in unrelenting pain;
   for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?
   And what is my end, that I should be patient?
¹²Is my strength the strength of stones,
   or is my flesh bronze?
¹³In truth I have no help in me,
   and any resource is driven from me.

¹⁴‘Those who withhold^* kindness from a friend
   forsake the fear of the Almighty.^*
15My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
   like freshets that pass away,
²¹Such you have now become to me;^*
   you see my calamity, and are afraid.