Job 6

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

6Then^a Job answered and said,

²“If only my vexation could be well weighed,

and my calamity could be lifted up together with it in the balances,

³for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;

therefore my words have been rash,

⁴for the arrows of Shaddai are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild ass bray over grass,

or the ox bellow over its fodder?

⁶Can tasteless food be eaten without^b salt,

or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?

⁷I refused^c to touch them;

they are like food that will make me ill.^d

⁸“O that^e my request may come,

and that God may grant my hope,

⁹that^f God would decide that^g he would crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and kill me.^h

¹⁰Butⁱ it will still be my consolation,

and I would recoil in unrelenting^j pain,

for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should hold out?^k

¹²Or is my strength like the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Indeed,^l my help is not in me,

and any success is driven from me.

¹⁴“Loyal love^m should come for the afflicted from his friend,

even ifⁿ he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.

¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed;

like a streambed of wadis^o they flow away,

¹⁶which are growing dark because of ice upon them,

it will pile up snow.

¹⁷In time they dry up, they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way wind around;

they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked;

the traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are disappointed, because they trusted;

they came here^p and they are confounded.

²¹“For now you^q have become such;^r

you see terrors, and you fear.

²²Is it because I have said, ‘Give to me,’

or,^s ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?

²³or,^t ‘Save me from the foe’s hand,’

or,^u ‘Ransom me from the tyrants’ hand’?

²⁴Teach me, and I myself^v will be silent;

and make me understand how I have gone astray.

²⁵How painful are upright words!^w

But^x what does your reproof^y reprove?

²⁶Do you intend to reprove my words^z

and consider the words of a desperate man as wind?

²⁷Even over the orphan you would cast the lot,

and you would bargain over your friend.

²⁸“Therefore^a be prepared, turn to me,

and I surely will not lie to your face.^b

²⁹Please turn, let no injustice happen;

indeed,^c turn, my righteousness is still intact.^d

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Or can my palate not discern calamity?^e