4. [But it is] because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison which my spirit drinks up; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5. Does the wild ass bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?
6. Can that which has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?
7. [These afflictions] my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me [sickening and repugnant]!
8. Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9. I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!
10. Then would I still have consolation–yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it]–that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One!