6Job answered:H347H6030H5592"If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,H3863H3708H8254H8254H1942H1962H5375H3976H31623It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea! Is it any wonder that I'm screaming like a caged cat?H3513H2344H3220H1697H38864The arrows of God Almighty are in me, poison arrows—and I'm poisoned all through! God has dumped the whole works on me.H2671H7706H5978H2534H8354H7307H1161H433H61865Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture— so don't expect me to keep quiet in this.H6501H5101H1877H1600H7794H10986Do you see what God has dished out for me? It's enough to turn anyone's stomach!H8602H398H4417H3426H2940H7388H24957Everything in me is repulsed by it— it makes me sick.H5315H3985H5060H1741H3899
Pressed Past the Limits
8"All I want is an answer to one prayer, a last request to be honored:H935H7596H433H5414H86159Let God step on me—squash me like a bug, and be done with me for good.H2974H433H1792H5425H3027H121410I'd at least have the satisfaction of not having blasphemed the Holy God, before being pressed past the limits.H5165H5539H2427H2550H3582H561H691811Where's the strength to keep my hopes up? What future do I have to keep me going?H3581H3176H7093H748H531512Do you think I have nerves of steel? Do you think I'm made of iron?H3581H3581H68H1320H515313Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps? Why, I don't even have any boots!H5833H8454H5080
My So-Called Friends
14"When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them.H4523H2617H7453H5800H3374H770615But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert— one day they're gushing with waterH251H898H5158H650H5158H567416From melting ice and snow cascading out of the mountains,H6937H7140H7950H595617But by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun.H6256H2215H6789H2527H1846H472518Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink, end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.H734H1870H3943H5927H8414H619Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.H734H8485H5027H1979H7614H696020They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment! They get there, and their faces fall!H954H982H935H265921And you, my so-called friends, are no better— there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.H7200H2866H337222It's not as though I asked you for anything— I didn't ask you for one red cent—H559H3051H7809H358123Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me. So why all this dodging and shuffling?H4422H6862H3027H6299H3027H618424"Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I've gone off the track.H3384H2790H995H768625Honest words never hurt anyone, but what's the point of all this pious bluster?H4834H3476H561H3198H319826You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life, but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.H2803H3198H4405H561H2976H730727Are people mere things to you? Are friends just items of profit and loss?H5307H3490H3738H745328"Look me in the eyes! Do you think I'd lie to your face?H2974H6437H6440H357629Think it over—no double-talk! Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!H7725H5766H7725H666430Can you detect anything false in what I say? Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?H3426H5766H3956H2441H995H1942