10“So I say, ‘Listen to me,
         I too will tell what I think.’

11“Behold, I waited for your words,
         I listened to your reasonings,
         While you pondered what to say.

12“I even paid close attention to you;
         Indeed, there was no one who refuted Job,
         Not one of you who answered his words.

13“Do not say,
         ‘We have found wisdom;
         God will rout him, not man.’

14“For he has not arranged his words against me,
         Nor will I reply to him with your arguments.

15“They are dismayed, they no longer answer;
         Words have failed them.

16“Shall I wait, because they do not speak,
         Because they stop and no longer answer?

17“I too will answer my share,
         I also will tell my opinion.

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

19“Behold, my belly is like unvented wine,
         Like new wineskins it is about to burst.

20“Let me speak that I may get relief;
         Let me open my lips and answer.

21“Let me now be partial to no one,
         Nor flatter any man.

22“For I do not know how to flatter,
         Else my Maker would soon take me away.

NASB ©1995