Study Desk

"For God is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I may answer Him, That we may go to court and judgment together.

"Then I would speak [my defense] and not fear Him; But I am not like that in myself.

"I am disgusted with my life and loathe it! I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

'Although You know that I am not guilty or wicked, Yet there is no one who can rescue me from Your hand.

'If I am wicked, woe to me [for judgment comes]! And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. For I am sated and filled with disgrace and the sight of my misery.

"For you have said, 'My teaching (doctrine) [that God knowingly afflicts the righteous] is pure, And I am innocent in your eyes.'

"But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these [of God's wisdom and might]?

"I am a joke to my friends; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him— A just and blameless man is a joke [and laughed to scorn].

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

"Behold, I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not heard; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

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

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

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

"Even when I remember, I am troubled and afraid; Horror and trembling take hold of my flesh.

But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me], Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.

"This [which I am about to explain] is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which tyrants and oppressors receive from the Almighty:

"And now I have become [the subject of] their taunting; Yes, I am a byword and a laughingstock to them.

"I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest; Days of affliction come to meet me.

"I am a brother to [howling] jackals, And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite said, "I am young, and you are aged; For that reason I was anxious and dared not tell you what I think.