10. Then I would still have this consolation –my joy in unrelenting pain –that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
11. ‘What strength do I have, that I should still hope?What prospects, that I should be patient?
12. Do I have the strength of stone?Is my flesh bronze?
13. Do I have any power to help myself,now that success has been driven from me?
14. ‘Anyone who withholds kindness from a friendforsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,as the streams that overflow
16. when darkened by thawing iceand swollen with melting snow,