Job Answers Eliphaz

6 Then Job answered:

2  “I wish my suffering could be weighed

and my misery put on scales.

3  My sadness would be heavier than the sand of the seas.

No wonder my words seem careless.

4  The arrows of the Almighty are in me;

my spirit drinks in their poison;

God’s terrors are gathered against me.

5  A wild donkey does not bray when it has grass to eat,

and an ox is quiet when it has feed.

6  Tasteless food is not eaten without salt,

and there is no flavor in the white of an egg.

7  I refuse to touch it;

such food makes me sick.

8  “How I wish that I might have what I ask for

and that God would give me what I hope for.

9  How I wish God would crush me

and reach out his hand to destroy me.

10  Then I would have this comfort

and be glad even in this unending pain,

because I would know I did not reject the words of the Holy One.

11  “I do not have the strength to wait.

There is nothing to hope for,

so why should I be patient?

12  I do not have the strength of stone;

my flesh is not bronze.

13  I have no power to help myself,

because success has been taken away from me.

14  “They say, ‘A person’s friends should be kind to him when he is in trouble,

even if he stops fearing the Almighty.’

15  But my brothers cannot be counted on.

They are like streams that do not always flow,

streams that sometimes run over.

16  They are made dark by melting ice

and rise with melting snow.

17  But they stop flowing in the dry season;

they disappear when it is hot.

18  Travelers turn away from their paths

and go into the desert and die.

19  The groups of travelers from Tema look for water,

and the traders of Sheba look hopefully.

20  They are upset because they had been sure;

when they arrive, they are disappointed.

21  You also have been no help.

You see something terrible, and you are afraid.

22  I have never said, ‘Give me a gift.

Use your wealth to pay my debt.

23  Save me from the enemy’s power.

Buy me back from the clutches of cruel people.’

24  “Teach me, and I will be quiet.

Show me where I have been wrong.

25  Honest words are painful,

but your arguments prove nothing.

26  Do you mean to correct what I say?

Will you treat the words of a troubled man as if they were only wind?

27  You would even gamble for orphans

and would trade away your friend.

28  “But now please look at me.

I would not lie to your face.

29  Change your mind; do not be unfair;

think again, because my innocence is being questioned.

30  What I am saying is not wicked;

I can tell the difference between right and wrong.