1. But Job, responding, said:
2. I wish that my sins, for which I deserve wrath, and the calamity that I endure, were weighed out on a balance.
3. Compared to the sand of the sea, they would appear heavier, and so my words are full of sorrow.
4. For the arrows of the Lord are in me, my spirit drinks of their indignation, and the terrors of the Lord are soldiers against me.
5. Will the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or will the ox bellow when he stands before a full manger?
6. Or can one eat bland food, which is not seasoned with salt? Or can anyone taste that which, if tasted, causes death?
7. The things that my soul was unwilling to touch before, now, because of anguish, are my foods.
8. Who will grant that my petition may arrive and that God may bestow on me what I expect,
9. and that he who, at first, had crushed me, will let loose his hand and cut me down?
10. And may this be my consolation, that in afflicting me with sorrow, although he might not be lenient with me, I still do not contradict the words of the Holy One.
11. For what is my strength, that I may continue? Or what is my goal, so that I may act patiently?