Job 6

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

¹Then Job answered and said,[#Hebrew “And”]

²“If only my vexation could be well weighed,

and my calamity could be lifted up together with it in the balances,

³for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;

therefore my words have been rash,

⁴for the arrows of Shaddai are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁵Does the wild ass bray over grass,

or the ox bellow over its fodder?

⁶Can tasteless food be eaten without salt,[#Hebrew “from without”]

or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?

⁷I refused to touch them;[#Literally “My soul/throat refuses”]

they are like food that will make me ill.

⁸“O that my request may come,[#Literally “Who would give”]

and that God may grant my hope,

⁹that God would decide that he would crush me,[#Hebrew “and”; #Hebrew “and”]

that he would let loose his hand and kill me.

¹⁰But it will still be my consolation,[#Hebrew “And”]

and I would recoil in unrelenting pain,

for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is my end, that I should hold out?

¹²Or is my strength like the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh bronze?

¹³Indeed, my help is not in me,[#An interrogative marker plus “if”]

and any success is driven from me.

¹⁴“Loyal love should come for the afflicted from his friend,[#Or “Kindness”]

even if he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.

¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed;

like a streambed of wadis they flow away,

¹⁶which are growing dark because of ice upon them,

it will pile up snow.

¹⁷In time they dry up, they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

¹⁸The paths of their way wind around;

they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked;

the traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

²⁰They are disappointed, because they trusted;

they came here and they are confounded.

²¹“For now you have become such;[#Plural throughout the rest of this chapter; #Literally “to it,” or “for it”]

you see terrors, and you fear.

²²Is it because I have said, ‘Give to me,’

or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?

²³or, ‘Save me from the foe’s hand,’[#Hebrew “and”]

or, ‘Ransom me from the tyrants’ hand’?

²⁴Teach me, and I myself will be silent;[#Emphatic personal pronoun]

and make me understand how I have gone astray.

²⁵How painful are upright words![#Literally “words of uprightness”]

But what does your reproof reprove?

²⁶Do you intend to reprove my words[#Or “Do you intend to reprove with words”]

and consider the words of a desperate man as wind?

²⁷Even over the orphan you would cast the lot,

and you would bargain over your friend.

²⁸“Therefore be prepared, turn to me,[#Literally “And now,” or “And so then”]

and I surely will not lie to your face.

²⁹Please turn, let no injustice happen;

indeed, turn, my righteousness is still intact.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Or can my palate not discern calamity?