Job 6
1 Then responded Job, and said: —
Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],
2 Oh that, weighed, were my vexation, and, my engulfing ruin—into the balances, they would lift up all at once!
“If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,
3 For, now, beyond the sand of the seas, would it be heavy, On this account, my words, have wandered.
they would be heavier than all the sands [on the shores] of the oceans. That is why I spoke (very rashly/without thinking clearly) [about the day that I was born].
4 For, the arrows of the Almighty, are in me, The heat whereof, my spirit is drinking up, The, terrors of GOD, array themselves against me.
[It is as though] Almighty [God] has shot me with arrows. [It is as though] those arrows had poison on their tips, and that poison has gone into my spirit. The things that God has done to me have terrified me.
5 Doth the wild ass bray over grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?
Just like a wild donkey does not [complain by] braying when it has plenty of grass to eat, and an ox does not [complain by] bellowing when it has food to eat [MET], [I would not complain if you were really helping/comforting me].
6 Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
People complain [RHQ] when they must eat food which has no salt or other tasteless food [MET], [and that is what your words are like, Eliphaz].
7 My soul hath refused to touch, Those things, are like disease in my food.
Just like I do not want to eat food [like that], and I loathe/detests that kind of food [MET], [I do not appreciate what you have said to me].
8 Oh that my request would come! and, my hope, oh that GOD would grant!
“I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].
9 That it would please GOD to crush me, That he would set free his hand, and cut me off!
I wish that he would crush me [and let me die]. I wish that he would reach out his hand and take away my life.
10 So might it still be my comfort, And I might exult in the anguish he would not spare, —That I had not concealed the sayings of the Holy One.
If he would do that, I would be comforted by knowing that in spite of the great pain that I have suffered, I have always obeyed what [God, ] the Holy One, has commanded.
11 What is my strength, that I should hope? Or what mine end, that I should prolong my desire?
But now I do not have [RHQ] enough strength to endure all these things. And since I have nothing [to hope for] in (the future/this life), it is difficult for me to be patient now [RHQ].
12 Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is, my flesh, of bronze?
I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.
13 Is there any help at all in me? Is not, abiding success, driven from me?
So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”
14 The despairing, from his friend, should have lovingkindness, or, the reverence of the Almighty, he may forsake.
“When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].
15 Mine own brethren, have proved treacherous like a torrent, like a channel of torrents which disappear:
But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]
16 Which darken by reason of the cold, over them, is a covering made by the snow:
when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,
17 By the time they begin to thaw, they are dried up, as soon as it is warm, they have vanished out of their place.
but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.
18 Caravans turn aside by their course, they go up into a waste, and are lost:
[The caravans of merchants] turn off the path [to search for some water], but there is no water, so they die [in the desert].
19 The caravans of Tema looked about, the travelling companies of Sheba, hoped for them:
The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.
20 They are ashamed that they had trusted, They have come up to one of them, and are confounded.
But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.
21 For, now, ye have come to him, ye see something fearful, and fear.
Similarly, you friends have not helped me at all! You have seen that terrible things have happened to me, and you are afraid [that God might do similar things to you].
22 Is it that I said, Make me a gift, or, out of your abundance, offer a bribe on my behalf;
[After I lost all my wealth, ] did I ask any of you for money? [RHQ] Did I plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me [RHQ]?
23 And deliver me from the hand of the adversary? And, out of the hand of tyrants, ransom me?
Have I asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies [RHQ]? Have I asked you to save me from those who (oppressed me/treated me badly) [RHQ]? [No!]”
24 Show me, and, I, will hold my peace, And, wherein I have erred, cause me to understand.
“Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!
25 How pleasant are the sayings that are right! But what can a decision from you, decide?
When people speak what is true, that will not hurt the person who hears it, but what you say, criticizing me, [is not true, so your saying it] proves nothing [RHQ]!
26 To decide words, do ye intend, When, to the wind, are spoken the sayings of one in despair?
I am a man who has nothing to hope for, but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is nothing but wind [RHQ]!
27 Surely, the fatherless, ye would assail, and make merchandise of your friend!
You do not sympathize with me at all [for all that I am suffering]. [You are heartless!] You would even gamble to see who gets an orphan [as a prize]!
28 But, now, be pleased to turn to me, that it may be, to your faces, if I speak falsehood,
Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.
29 Reply, I pray you, let there be no perversity, Yea reply even yet, my vindication is in it!
Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.
30 Is there, in my tongue, perversity? Or can, my sense, not discern, engulfing ruin?
Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”
