Chapter 6

¹Then Job answered,

²“Oh that my anguish were weighed,

And all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,

Therefore have my words been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,

My spirit drinks up their poison.

The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?

Or does the ox low over his fodder?

⁶Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them;

They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸“Oh that I might have my request;

That God would grant the thing that I long for!

⁹Even that it would please God to crush me;

That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰Be it still my consolation,

Yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare,

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

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

What is my end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh of brass?

¹³Isn’t it that I have no help in me,

That wisdom is driven quite from me?

¹⁴“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;

Even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the channel of brooks that pass away;

¹⁶Which are black by reason of the ice,

in which the snow hides itself:

¹⁷In the dry season, they vanish.

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel beside them turn aside;

They go up into the waste, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰They were distressed because they were confident;

They came there, and were confounded.

²¹For now you are nothing.

You see a terror, and are afraid.

²²Did I say, ‘Give to me?’

Or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’

²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’

Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness!

But your reproof, what does it reprove?

²⁶Do you intend to reprove words,

Seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

²⁷Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,

And make merchandise of your friend.

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look at me,

For surely I shall not lie to your face.

²⁹Please return. Let there be no injustice;

Yes, return again, my cause is righteous.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?