Job 6
1 Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],
And Job answered and said,
2 “If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,
Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 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].
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words are vehement.
4 [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.
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 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].
Doth the wild ass bray by the grass? loweth an ox over his fodder?
6 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].
Shall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 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].
What my soul refuseth to touch, that is as my loathsome food.
8 “I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].
Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire!
9 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.
And that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
10 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.
Then should I yet have comfort; and in the pain which spareth not I would rejoice that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 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].
What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should have patience?
12 I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.
Is my strength the strength of stones? is my flesh of brass?
13 So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”
Is it not that there is no help in me, and soundness is driven away from me?
14 “When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].
For him that is fainting kindness [is meet] from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
15 But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,
16 when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,
Which are turbid by reason of the ice, in which the snow hideth itself:
17 but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.
At the time they diminish, they are dried up; when heat affecteth them, they vanish from their place:
18 [The caravans of merchants] turn off the path [to search for some water], but there is no water, so they die [in the desert].
They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish.
19 The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.
The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba counted on them:
20 But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.
They are ashamed at their hope; they come thither, and are confounded.
21 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].
So now ye are nothing; ye see a terrible object and are afraid.
22 [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]?
Did I say, Bring unto me, and make me a present from your substance?
23 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!]”
Or, rescue me from the hand of the oppressor, and redeem me from the hand of the violent?
24 “Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 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]!
How forcible are right words! but what doth your upbraiding reprove?
26 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]!
Do ye imagine to reprove words? The speeches of one that is desperate are indeed for the wind.
27 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]!
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and dig [a pit] for your friend.
28 Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.
Now therefore if ye will, look upon me; and it shall be to your face if I lie.
29 Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.
Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it.
30 Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”
Is there wrong in my tongue? cannot my taste discern mischievous things?
