Job 6

Job Replies to Eliphaz

1-7 God Has Dumped the Works on Me Job answered:
"If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea! Is it any wonder that I'm screaming like a caged cat? The arrows of God Almighty are in me, poison arrows—and I'm poisoned all through! God has dumped the whole works on me. Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture— so don't expect me to keep quiet in this. Do you see what God has dished out for me? It's enough to turn anyone's stomach! Everything in me is repulsed by it— it makes me sick.

Pressed Past the Limits

8-13 "All I want is an answer to one prayer, a last request to be honored: Let God step on me—squash me like a bug, and be done with me for good. I'd at least have the satisfaction of not having blasphemed the Holy God, before being pressed past the limits. Where's the strength to keep my hopes up? What future do I have to keep me going? Do you think I have nerves of steel? Do you think I'm made of iron? Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps? Why, I don't even have any boots!

My So-Called Friends

14-23 "When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them. But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert— one day they're gushing with water From melting ice and snow cascading out of the mountains, But by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun. Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst. Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink. They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment! They get there, and their faces fall! And you, my so-called friends, are no better— there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear. It's not as though I asked you for anything— I didn't ask you for one red cent— Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me. So why all this dodging and shuffling?24-27 "Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I've gone off the track. Honest words never hurt anyone, but what's the point of all this pious bluster? You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life, but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air. Are people mere things to you? Are friends just items of profit and loss?28-30 "Look me in the eyes! Do you think I'd lie to your face? Think it over—no double-talk! Think carefully—my integrity is on the line! Can you detect anything false in what I say? Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?"

Job 6

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 Oh that my vexation were but weighed, And all my calamity laid in the balances!

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

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

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

7 My soul refuseth to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me.

8 Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

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

10 And be it still my consolation, Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

13 Is it not that I have no help in me, And that wisdom is driven quite from me?

14 To him that is ready to faint kindness should be showed from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

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

16 Which are black by reason of the ice, And wherein the snow hideth itself:

17 What time they wax warm, they vanish; When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

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

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

20 They were put to shame because they had hoped; They came thither, and were confounded.

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

22 Did I say, Give unto me? Or, Offer a present for me of your substance?

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

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

25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what doth it reprove?

26 Do ye think to reprove words, Seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind?

27 Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend.

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

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

30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?