Job 6
1 Then Job spoke again, saying [to Eliphaz],
Then responded Job, and said: —
2 “If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,
Oh that, weighed, were my vexation, and, my engulfing ruin—into the balances, they would lift up all at once!
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, beyond the sand of the seas, would it be heavy, On this account, my words, have wandered.
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, The heat whereof, my spirit is drinking up, The, terrors of GOD, array themselves 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 over grass? Or loweth the 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].
Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? Or 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].
My soul hath refused to touch, Those things, are like disease in my food.
8 “I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].
Oh that my request would come! and, my hope, oh that GOD would grant!
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 it would please GOD to crush me, That he would set free 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.
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.
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? Or what mine end, that I should prolong my desire?
12 I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.
Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is, my flesh, of bronze?
13 So I am not able to help myself, and [it seems that] there is no one to rescue me.”
Is there any help at all in me? Is not, abiding success, driven from me?
14 “When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty [God].
The despairing, from his friend, should have lovingkindness, or, the reverence of the Almighty, he may forsake.
15 But [you, ] my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks [in the spring]
Mine own brethren, have proved treacherous like a torrent, like a channel of torrents which disappear:
16 when [the melting] ice and snow make those streams overflow,
Which darken by reason of the cold, over them, is a covering made by the snow:
17 but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing [in those streams], and the channels dry up.
By the time they begin to thaw, they are dried up, as soon as it is warm, they have vanished out of 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].
Caravans turn aside by their course, they go up into a waste, and are lost:
19 The men in those caravans search [for some water] because they are sure that they will find some.
The caravans of Tema looked about, the travelling companies of Sheba, hoped for them:
20 But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.
They are ashamed that they had trusted, They have come up to one of them, 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].
For, now, ye have come to him, ye see something fearful, and fear.
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]?
Is it that I said, Make me a gift, or, out of your abundance, offer a bribe on my behalf;
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!]”
And deliver me from the hand of the adversary? And, out of the hand of tyrants, ransom me?
24 “Answer me [now, and then] I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!
Show me, and, I, will hold my peace, And, wherein I have erred, cause me to understand.
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 pleasant are the sayings that are right! But what can a decision from you, decide?
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]!
To decide words, do ye intend, When, to the wind, are spoken the sayings of one in despair?
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]!
Surely, the fatherless, ye would assail, and make merchandise of your friend!
28 Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.
But, now, be pleased to turn to me, that it may be, to your faces, if I speak falsehood,
29 Stop [saying that I have sinned, and] stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.
Reply, I pray you, let there be no perversity, Yea reply even yet, my vindication is 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, in my tongue, perversity? Or can, my sense, not discern, engulfing ruin?
