Job 6
1 Then Job responded:
Then responded Job, and said: —
2 “If my grief could be weighed and my troubles placed on the scales
Oh that, weighed, were my vexation, and, my engulfing ruin—into the balances, they would lift up all at once!
3 they would be heavier than the sand of the sea. That's why I spoke so rashly.
For, now, beyond the sand of the seas, would it be heavy, On this account, my words, have wandered.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; their poison saps my spirit. God's terrors are lined up against me.
For, the arrows of the Almighty, are in me, The heat whereof, my spirit is drinking up, The, terrors of GOD, array themselves against me.
5 Don't wild donkeys bray when their grass is gone? Don't cattle groan when they don't have food!
Doth the wild ass bray over grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?
6 Can something that's tasteless be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?
Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 I just can't touch any food—even the thought makes me feel sick!
My soul hath refused to touch, Those things, are like disease in my food.
8 Oh, if only I could have what I really want, that God would give me what I most desire—
Oh that my request would come! and, my hope, oh that GOD would grant!
9 that God would be willing to crush me to death, that he would just let me die!
That it would please GOD to crush me, That he would set free his hand, and cut me off!
10 But it still comforts me to know, making me happy through the never-ending pain, that I have never rejected the words of God.
So might it still be my comfort, And I might exult in the anguish he would not spare, —That I had not concealed the sayings of the Holy One.
11 Why should I go on waiting when I don't have the strength? Why should I keep going when I don't know what is going to happen to me?
What is my strength, that I should hope? Or what mine end, that I should prolong my desire?
12 Am I as strong as rock? Am I made out of bronze?
Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is, my flesh, of bronze?
13 How can I help myself now that any chance of success is ripped away from me?
Is there any help at all in me? Is not, abiding success, driven from me?
14 Anyone who isn't kind to a friend has given up respecting the Almighty.
The despairing, from his friend, should have lovingkindness, or, the reverence of the Almighty, he may forsake.
15 My brothers have acted as deceptively as a desert stream, rushing waters in the desert that vanish.
Mine own brethren, have proved treacherous like a torrent, like a channel of torrents which disappear:
16 The stream floods when it is full of dark ice and melting snow,
Which darken by reason of the cold, over them, is a covering made by the snow:
17 but in the heat it dries up and disappears, vanishing from where it once was.
By the time they begin to thaw, they are dried up, as soon as it is warm, they have vanished out of their place.
18 Camel caravans turn aside to look for water, but don't find any and they die.
Caravans turn aside by their course, they go up into a waste, and are lost:
19 Caravans from Tema looked, travelers from Sheba were confident,
The caravans of Tema looked about, the travelling companies of Sheba, hoped for them:
20 but their hopes were dashed—they came and found nothing.
They are ashamed that they had trusted, They have come up to one of them, and are confounded.
21 Now you are no help, just like that—you see my trouble and you're afraid.
For, now, ye have come to him, ye see something fearful, and fear.
22 Have I asked you for anything? Have I told you to bribe anyone for me from your wealth?
Is it that I said, Make me a gift, or, out of your abundance, offer a bribe on my behalf;
23 Have I asked you to rescue me from an enemy? Have I told you to save me from my oppressors?
And deliver me from the hand of the adversary? And, out of the hand of tyrants, ransom me?
24 Explain this to me, and I'll be quiet. Show me where I'm wrong.
Show me, and, I, will hold my peace, And, wherein I have erred, cause me to understand.
25 Honest words are painful, but what do your arguments prove?
How pleasant are the sayings that are right! But what can a decision from you, decide?
26 Are you going to argue over what I said, when the words of someone in despair should be left to blow away in the wind?
To decide words, do ye intend, When, to the wind, are spoken the sayings of one in despair?
27 You would play dice to win an orphan; you would bargain away your friend!
Surely, the fatherless, ye would assail, and make merchandise of your friend!
28 Look me in the eye and see if I'm lying to your face!
But, now, be pleased to turn to me, that it may be, to your faces, if I speak falsehood,
29 Don't talk like this! Don't be unjust! What I'm saying is right.
Reply, I pray you, let there be no perversity, Yea reply even yet, my vindication is in it!
30 I'm not telling lies—don't you think I wouldn't know if I was wrong?”
Is there, in my tongue, perversity? Or can, my sense, not discern, engulfing ruin?
