Job 6
1 Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],
Then Job responded:
2 “If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,
“If my grief could be weighed and my troubles placed on the scales
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].
they would be heavier than the sand of the sea. That's why I spoke so rashly.
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 in me; their poison saps my spirit. God's terrors are lined up 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].
Don't wild donkeys bray when their grass is gone? Don't cattle groan when they don't have food!
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].
Can something that's tasteless 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].
I just can't touch any food—even the thought makes me feel sick!
8 “I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].
Oh, if only I could have what I really want, that God would give me what I most 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.
that God would be willing to crush me to death, that he would just let me die!
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.
But it still comforts me to know, making me happy through the never-ending pain, that I have never rejected the words of God.
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].
Why should I go on waiting when I don't have the strength? Why should I keep going when I don't know what is going to happen to me?
12 I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.
Am I as strong as rock? Am I made out of bronze?
13 So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”
How can I help myself now that any chance of success is ripped away from me?
14 “When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].
Anyone who isn't kind to a friend has given up respecting the Almighty.
15 But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]
My brothers have acted as deceptively as a desert stream, rushing waters in the desert that vanish.
16 when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,
The stream floods when it is full of dark ice and melting snow,
17 but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.
but in the heat it dries up and disappears, vanishing from where it once was.
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].
Camel caravans turn aside to look for water, but don't find any and they die.
19 The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.
Caravans from Tema looked, travelers from Sheba were confident,
20 But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.
but their hopes were dashed—they came and found nothing.
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].
Now you are no help, just like that—you see my trouble and you're 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]?
Have I asked you for anything? Have I told you to bribe anyone for me from your wealth?
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!]”
Have I asked you to rescue me from an enemy? Have I told you to save me from my oppressors?
24 “Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!
Explain this to me, and I'll be quiet. Show me where I'm wrong.
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]!
Honest words are painful, but what do your arguments prove?
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]!
Are you going to argue over what I said, when the words of someone in despair should be left to blow away in 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]!
You would play dice to win an orphan; you would bargain away your friend!
28 Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.
Look me in the eye and see if I'm lying to your face!
29 Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.
Don't talk like this! Don't be unjust! What I'm saying is right.
30 Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”
I'm not telling lies—don't you think I wouldn't know if I was wrong?”
