Logos Bible Study

Job 6:2

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6:2“Oh,2 if only my grief3 could be weighed,4

and my misfortune laid5 on the scales too!6

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Footnotes

  1. 2 The conjunction לוּ (lu, “if, if only”) introduces the wish—an unrealizable wish—with the Niphal imperfect.
  2. 3 Job pairs כַּעְסִי (ka’si, “my grief”) and הַיָּתִי (hayyati, “my misfortune”). The first word, used in Job 4:2, refers to Job’s whole demeanor that he shows his friends—the impatient and vexed expression of his grief. The second word expresses his misfortune, the cause of his grief. Job wants these placed together in the balances so that his friends could see the misfortune is greater than the grief. The word for “misfortune” is a Kethib-Qere reading. The two words have essentially the same meaning; they derive from the verb הָוַה (havah, “to fall”) and so mean a misfortune.
  3. 4 The Qal infinitive absolute is here used to intensify the Niphal imperfect (see §113.w). The infinitive absolute intensifies the wish as well as the idea of weighing.
  4. 5 The third person plural verb is used here; it expresses an indefinite subject and is treated as a passive (see §144.g).
  5. 6 The adverb normally means “together,” but it can also mean “similarly, too.” In this verse it may not mean that the two things are to be weighed together, but that the whole calamity should be put on the scales (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 43).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“Oh that my vexation were weighed,

and all my calamity laid in the balances!

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“If only my anguish could be weighed

and all my misery be placed on the scales!

CSBChristian Standard Bible

If only my grief could be weighed

and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

NLTNew Living Translation

“If my misery could be weighed

and my troubles be put on the scales,

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“If only my vexation could be well weighed,

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

KJV 1900King James Version

Oh that my grief were throughly weighed,

And my calamity laid in the balances together!