Job 6

1 Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],

Then Job answered and said,

2 “If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,

Oh that my vexation were but weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!

3 they would be heavier than all the sands [on the shores] of the oceans. That is why I spoke (very rashly/without thinking clearly) [about the day that I was born].

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas: therefore have my words been rash.

4 [It is as though] Almighty [God] has shot me with arrows. [It is as though] those arrows had poison on their tips, and that poison has gone into my spirit. The things that God has done to me have terrified me.

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

5 Just like a wild donkey does not [complain by] braying when it has plenty of grass to eat, and an ox does not [complain by] bellowing when it has food to eat [MET], [I would not complain if you were really helping/comforting me].

Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?

6 People complain [RHQ] when they must eat food which has no salt or other tasteless food [MET], [and that is what your words are like, Eliphaz].

Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7 Just like I do not want to eat food [like that], and I loathe/detests that kind of food [MET], [I do not appreciate what you have said to me].

My soul refuseth to touch [them]; they are as loathsome meat to me.

8 “I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].

Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for.

9 I wish that he would crush me [and let me die]. I wish that he would reach out his hand and take away my life.

Even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

10 If he would do that, I would be comforted by knowing that in spite of the great pain that I have suffered, I have always obeyed what [God, ] the Holy One, has commanded.

Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would exult in pain that spareth not: for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 But now I do not have [RHQ] enough strength to endure all these things. And since I have nothing [to hope for] in (the future/this life), it is difficult for me to be patient now [RHQ].

What is my strength, that I should wait? and what is mine end, at I should be patient?

12 I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.

Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?

13 So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”

Is it not that I have no help in me, and that effectual working is driven quite from me?

14 “When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].

To him that is ready to faint kindness [should be shewed] from his friend; even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

15 But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

16 when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,

Which are black by reason of the ice, [and] wherein the snow hideth itself:

17 but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.

What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18 [The caravans of merchants] turn off the path [to search for some water], but there is no water, so they die [in the desert].

The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; they go up into the waste, and perish.

19 The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.

The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.

20 But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.

They were ashamed because they had hoped; they came thither, and were confounded.

21 Similarly, you friends have not helped me at all! You have seen that terrible things have happened to me, and you are afraid [that God might do similar things to you].

For now ye are nothing; ye see a terror, and are afraid.

22 [After I lost all my wealth, ] did I ask any of you for money? [RHQ] Did I plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me [RHQ]?

Did I say, Give unto me? or, offer a present for me of your substance?

23 Have I asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies [RHQ]? Have I asked you to save me from those who (oppressed me/treated me badly) [RHQ]? [No!]”

Or, Deliver me from the adversary’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

24 “Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!

Teach me, and I will hold my peace: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

25 When people speak what is true, that will not hurt the person who hears it, but what you say, criticizing me, [is not true, so your saying it] proves nothing [RHQ]!

How forcible are words of uprightness! but what doth your arguing reprove?

26 I am a man who has nothing to hope for, but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is nothing but wind [RHQ]!

Do ye imagine to reprove words? seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind.

27 You do not sympathize with me at all [for all that I am suffering]. [You are heartless!] You would even gamble to see who gets an orphan [as a prize]!

Yea, ye would cast [lots] upon the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

28 Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.

Now therefore be pleased to look upon me; for surely I shall not lie to your face.

29 Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.

Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice; yea, return again, my cause is righteous.

30 Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”

Is there injustice on my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?