Study Desk

"I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.

"What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you.

While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

"But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

"He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

"Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

"My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

"Even when I remember, I am disturbed, And horror takes hold of my flesh.

"Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence; When I consider, I am terrified of Him.

But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me.

"I am seething within and cannot relax; Days of affliction confront me.

So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said, "I am young in years and you are old; Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.

"For I am full of words; The spirit within me constrains me.

'I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent and there is no guilt in me.

"For Job has said, 'I am righteous, But God has taken away my right;

Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.'

"Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.

Be gracious to me, O Lord , for I am pining away; Heal me, O Lord , for my bones are dismayed.

I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.

And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.