Job 6

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

⁶Then Job answered:

²“O that my vexation were weighed

and all my calamity laid in the balances!^*

³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;

therefore my words have been rash.^*

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty^b are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.^*

⁵Does the wild ass bray over its grass

or the ox low over its fodder?

⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,

or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?^c

⁷My appetite refuses to touch them;

they are like food that is loathsome to me.^d

⁸“O that I might have my request

and that God would grant my desire,^*

⁹that it would please God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!^*

¹⁰This would be my consolation;

I would even exult^e in unrelenting 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 be patient?^*

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones,

or is my flesh bronze?

¹³In truth I have no help in me,

and any resource is driven from me.^*

¹⁴“Those who withhold^f kindness from a friend

forsake the fear of the Almighty.^g

¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed,

like swollen streams that pass away,^*

¹⁶that run dark with ice,

turbid with melting snow.

¹⁷In time of heat they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.^*

¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;

they go up into the waste and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look;

the travelers of Sheba hope.^*

²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident;

they come there and are confounded.^*

²¹Such you have now become to me;^h

you see my calamity and are afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?

Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

²³Or, ‘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.

²⁵How forceful are honest words!

But your reproof, what does it reprove?^*

²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,

as if the speech of the desperate were wind?^*

²⁷You would even cast lots over the orphan

and bargain over your friend.^*

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me,

for I will not lie to your face.^*

²⁹Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done.

Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

³⁰Is there any wrong on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discern calamity?^*