Job:6

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* JOB ANSWERED : * »If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales ! * »It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas , no wonder my words have been impetuous . * »The Almighty ’s arrows are in me . My spirit drinks in their poison . God ’s terrors set themselves against me . * »Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass , or an ox bellow when it has fodder ? * »Is tasteless food eaten without salt ? Is there flavor in the white root of the marshmallow plant ? * »I refuse to touch it ! This repugnant food makes me ill . * »Oh , that I might have my request and that God would grant what I long for . * »Oh that God would be willing to crush me , to let loose his hand and cut me off ! * »Then I would still have this consolation , my joy in unrelenting pain , that I had not denied the words of the Holy One . * »What strength do I have , that I should wait and hope ? What prospects , that I should be patient ? * »Do I have the strength of stone ? Is my flesh made of bronze ? * »Do I have any power to help myself , now that success has been driven from me ? * »A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends , even though he forsakes his reverence for the Almighty . * »But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams , as the streams that overflow * when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow , * but that cease to flow in the dry season , and in the heat vanishes from their channels . * »Caravans turn aside from their routes . They go into the wasteland and perish . * »The caravans of Tema look for water . The traveling merchants of Sheba hope and wait in vain . * »They are distressed ! They were once confident . They arrive there , only to be disappointed . * »Now you too have proved to be of no help . You see something dreadful and are afraid . * »Have I ever said : Give something on my behalf ; pay a ransom for me from your wealth , * deliver me from the hand of the enemy , ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless ’? * »Teach me , and I will be quiet . Show me where I have been wrong . * »Honest words are so painful ! But what do your arguments prove ? * »Do you mean to correct what I say ? Do you treat the words of a despairing man as wind ? * »You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend . * »But now be so kind as to look at me . Would I lie to your face ? * »Relent and do not be unjust . Reconsider , for my integrity is at stake . * »Is there any wickedness on my lips ? Can my mouth not discern destructive malice ?«

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