1 But Job answered and said,
2 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?
6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.
8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?
13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
16 Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:
17 What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18 The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
19 The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.
20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
21 For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?
23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
28 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.
29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
30 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?
<html><b>and my calamity</b> my ruin. <b>placed together on a scale</b> with a weight opposite it. even if [this weight] were the sand of the seas, it would outweigh it.</html>
<html><b>stammer</b> Heb. לעו. They are uncertain, like a person who has no strength to pronounce a word properly. Likewise (Obad. 16), “And they shall drink and stammer (ולעו),” because it is usual for a drunkard to stammer in his speech.</html>
<html><b>venom</b> Heb. חמתם, their poison. It was the custom of the Persians to apply snake venom to their arrows.</html>
<html><b>Does a wild donkey bray</b> That is to say, do I cry out for nothing? Even a stupid animal does not bray when it has food, neither does an ox low unless it does not have grain fodder. With a wild donkey, the expression used is נַהַק, braying, and with an ox, the expression of געיה, lowing.</html>
<html><b>Can bland food be eaten</b> A thing that has no salt and must be salted, but was not salted, is called תָּפֵל in Mishnaic Hebrew (Shabbath 128a, Hullin 113a, Nedarim 51a). <b>or is there taste in the saliva</b> that comes from strong tasting foods, for the one who eats a strong-tasting food that increases the saliva, e.g. garlic. That is to say, Do you think their replies that have no substance are acceptable? רִיר [means saliva] as in (I Sam. 2 1:14), “and let his saliva (ריר) run down upon his beard.” חַלָמוּת is like (below 39:4), “Their sons wax strong (יחלמו),” an expression of strength. Some interpret it as an expression of a dream (חלום), but this does not appeal to me because of the dagesh in the “lammed.”</html>
<html><b>What my body refused to touch</b> That is to say, I have reason to cry increasingly, because things that my body refused [to touch] and was disgusted to touch… [לנגוֹע] is an expression of touching. <b>as cloths for my food</b> Now they are prepared for me to touch them like my tablecloths upon which my food is placed. כִּדְוֵי is an expression like (II Sam. 10:4), “and he cut off their garments (מדויהם).” I heard this from Rabbi Meshullam the physician. Another interpretation: Like cloths with which they strain the cooked foods and the food runs out of them. דְוֵי is an expression of דָוֶה, running. <b>my food</b> Heb. לחמי, lit. my bread. All food is called לחם, as in (Dan. 5:1), “made a great feast (לחם).” and as in (Jer. 11:19), “Let us destroy his food (בלחמו) with wood.” which Jonathan renders: poison into his food. Another explanation: They are as the sights of my food. That is to say: I am accustomed to looking at them, at the worms, as I look at my food. This is Mishnaic Hebrew: “and they walk when they look (דוי)” in Tractate Shabbath (53b).</html>
<html><b>desire</b> and may He want. <b>and crush me</b> [This is] an expression of death. <b>enlarge his hand</b> May He enlarge His hand with His plague like (Exod. 9:3), “Behold God’s hand is.” <b>and finish me off</b> Heb. ויבצעני, and finish me off, as in (Lam. 2:17), “He has carried out (בצע) His word,” and (Zech. 4:9), “and his hands shall finish it (תבצענה).”</html>
<html><b>Then should I yet have comfort</b> And this shall yet be to me for comfort. <b>and I will beg, shuddering, that He should have no pity</b> And I will beg of Him with shuddering (Shem Ephraim) that He not refrain from finishing me off: I cannot find any similar word in Scriptures, except that in Mishnaic Hebrew it is an expression of fear and concern, that the hand fears them lest it be scalded in boiling water. That is to say, I will shudder with concern and with shuddering request this. <b>for I have not denied</b> I did not fail to fulfill His words.</html>
<html><b>What is my strength</b> How strong is it to bear [my pains]? <b>that I should wait</b> That I should wait until the day of recovery or until the day of death? <b>I should wait</b> Heb. איחל, like (Gen. 8:10), “And he waited (ויחל) again,” concerning Noah. <b>and what</b> Of what importance is my end that I should be able to restrain my desire to bear? <b>my desire</b> Heb. נפשי. This [word denoting] a person’s temptation toward desire [is used] in many places, as (Gen. 23:8), “If it is truly your will (נפשכם).”</html>
<html><b>Have I no help</b> This is an expression of wonder. Will this too come upon me, that I have no help? Those friends that I had to help me are not helping me. <b>or is counsel lost</b> The counsel of counselors is lost from me, because you have risen against me to provoke and to reject.</html>
<html><b>By one who withholds kindness from his friend</b> Heb. למס, by one who withholds kindness. The “lammed” is a prefix, as in (Num. 26:54), “to the numerous one (לָרַב)”; “to the one who returns (?) (לָשָב),” and (Isa. 28:10, 13) “for a precept (לצו).” מָס too is an expression of a verb, like בָּא, comes: שָב, returns; גָר, dwells; these also are an expression of doing [i.e., the present tense]: <b>who withholds kindness</b>, who destroys it, like (Exod. 16:21), “when the sun grew hot, it melted (ונמס).”</html>
<html><b>My brethren</b> Those who defend me. <b>betrayed</b> me like the stream that betrays [many] betrayals, as is explained in this chapter. <b>like the source of streams</b> the source of streams, they pass from the proper trait of friendship. Now what is the betrayal of a stream?</html>
<html><b>which wrinkle from the ice</b> if ice comes upon them, they wrinkle and become like boards (Shem Ephraim), <b>and upon them the snow disappears</b>—it is covered, for it falls with the ice. This is one betrayal, for it [the stream] is hidden from the eye, and a thirsty man does not find water to drink.</html>
<html><b>At the time they become warm</b> Heb. יזרבו, an expression of יְצֹרָבוּ, they become warm from the heat of the sun. <b>they retreat</b> Heb. נצמתו, retrait in Old French, shrink, contract, as “and the vinegar shrinks them (צומתן), (Pesachim 41a) in Talmudic Hebrew. [In the word יְזֹרָבוּ], the “zaddi” is converted to a “zayin,” like צעקה and זעקה, a cry. [Therefore,] יְזֹרָבוּ is an expression of (Ezekiel 21:3), “and all faces shall be scorched (ונצרבו),” and like (Prov. 16:27), “searing (צרבת) fire.” <b>they jump</b> they jump from their place.</html>
<html><b>are held</b> Heb. ילפתו. They hold the paths of their way, as in (Jud. 16:29), “And Samson grasped (וילפת),” and similarly (Ruth 3:8), “and the man quaked and was taken around (וילפת),” for the woman embraced him.</html>
<html><b>They look at the paths of Tema</b> The land of Ishmael, which is low, and the water flows there. <b>they make a line</b> Heb. קוו, an expression of an extended line. Another explanation: it is an expression of (Gen. 1:9) “Let the waters…gather (יקוו).”</html>
<html><b>They are ashamed because they had hoped; they came to it</b> Those who drink it are ashamed because everyone had hoped to drink thereof.</html>
<html><b>For now you are like it</b> You are compared to that stream <b>you fear ruin</b> The fear of the plague, and you are afraid to say the truth, thereby flattering my opponent.</html>
<html><b>or “Offer a bribe for me from your wealth”</b> [Heb. מכחכם, lit. from your strength.] And from your wealth.</html>
<html><b>How clear</b> Heb. נמרצו, like (I Kings 2:8), “a clear curse (נמרצת),” an expression of (Prov. 25:11) “a word spoken with proper basis.” and similarly (Ps. 119:103), “How clear (נמלצו) are Your words to my palate.” All of them are expressions of clarification (מליצה), and the “lammed” is converted to a “resh.” <b>words of uprightness</b> If you were saying words of uprightness, they would be accepted, but now, what does your proof prove? Every expression of תוֹכָחָה in Job means the clarification and verification of matters.</html>
<html><b>Do you think to clarify words</b> Heb. הלהוכח, Do you think to clarify words? <b>They are like wind</b> They are likened [to wind]. <b>words of futility</b> which have no substance, like (Jer. 2:25), “but you said. I despair (נואש).” I am not concerned with the words of the prophets.</html>
<html><b>You cast</b> with your judgment, you cast wrath upon a poor man like me, with the line of judgment; and you dig a pit for your friend into which to cast him.</html>
<html><b>agree</b> Be willing to turn to me and to hear my words. Then you will see whether I lie to your face.</html>
<html><b>Return now</b> to test, and you will determine that there shall be no more injustice; return to investigate, and behold, my righteousness will be found in it.</html>
<html><b>or will my palate not understand wickedness?</b> Will it not understand when I speak words of wickedness?</html>