Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just
6 Then Job answered:
2 “O that my vexation were weighed
and all my calamity laid in the balances!(A)
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.(B)
4 For the arrows of the Almighty[a] are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.(C)
5 Does the wild ass bray over its grass
or the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?[b]
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.[c]
8 “O that I might have my request
and that God would grant my desire,(D)
9 that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!(E)
10 This would be my consolation;
I would even exult[d] in unrelenting pain,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.(F)
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?(G)
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
or is my flesh bronze?
13 In truth I have no help in me,
and any resource is driven from me.(H)
14 “Those who withhold[e] kindness from a friend
forsake the fear of the Almighty.[f]
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed,
like swollen streams that pass away,(I)
16 that run dark with ice,
turbid with melting snow.
17 In time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.(J)
18 The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look;
the travelers of Sheba hope.(K)
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
they come there and are confounded.(L)
21 Such you have now become to me;[g]
you see my calamity and are afraid.
22 Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
23 Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’?
Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?
24 “Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone wrong.
25 How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?(M)
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
as if the speech of the desperate were wind?(N)
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan
and bargain over your friend.(O)
28 “But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.(P)
29 Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any wrong on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern calamity?(Q)
Footnotes
- 6.4Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 6.6Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.7Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.10Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.14Syr Vg Compare Tg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.14Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 6.21Cn Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain
Cross references
- 6.2 : Job 31.6
- 6.3 : Prov 27.3
- 6.4 : Job 21.20; Ps 38.2; 88.15
- 6.8 : Job 14.13
- 6.9 : 1 Kings 19.4
- 6.10 : Lev 19.2; Job 23.11, 12; Isa 57.15; Hos 11.9
- 6.11 : Job 21.4
- 6.13 : Job 26.2, 3
- 6.15 : Ps 38.11; Jer 15.18
- 6.17 : Job 24.19
- 6.19 : Gen 25.15; 1 Kings 10.1; Isa 21.14
- 6.20 : Jer 14.3
- 6.25 : Eccl 12.10, 11
- 6.26 : Job 8.2
- 6.27 : Joel 3.3; 2 Pet 2.3
- 6.28 : Job 27.4
- 6.30 : Job 12.11; 27.4