Job 6:1-30 - Job's Second Speech: A Response To Eliphaz

¹ Then responded Job, and said: - ² Oh that, weighed, were my vexation, and, my engulfing ruin - into the balances, they would lift up all at once! ³ For, now, beyond the sand of the seas, would it be heavy, On this account, my words, have wandered. ⁴ 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 Doth the wild ass bray over grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder? ⁶ Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? ⁷ My soul hath refused to touch, Those things, are like disease in my food.

⁸ Oh that my request would come! and, my hope, oh that GOD would grant! ⁹ That it would please GOD to crush me, That he would set free his hand, and cut me off! ¹⁰ 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 What is my strength, that I should hope? Or what mine end, that I should prolong my desire? ¹² Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is, my flesh, of bronze? ¹³ Is there any help at all in me? Is not, abiding success, driven from me?

¹⁴ The despairing, from his friend, should have lovingkindness, or, the reverence of the Almighty, he may forsake. ¹⁵ Mine own brethren, have proved treacherous like a torrent, like a channel of torrents which disappear: ¹⁶ Which darken by reason of the cold, over them, is a covering made by the snow: ¹⁷ 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 Caravans turn aside by their course, they go up into a waste, and are lost: ¹⁹ The caravans of Tema looked about, the travelling companies of Sheba, hoped for them: ²⁰ They are ashamed that they had trusted, They have come up to one of them, and are confounded. ²¹ For, now, ye have come to him, ye see something fearful, and fear. ²² Is it that I said, Make me a gift, or, out of your abundance, offer a bribe on my behalf; ²³ And deliver me from the hand of the adversary? And, out of the hand of tyrants, ransom me?

²⁴ Show me, and, I, will hold my peace, And, wherein I have erred, cause me to understand. ²⁵ How pleasant are the sayings that are right! But what can a decision from you, decide? ²⁶ To decide words, do ye intend, When, to the wind, are spoken the sayings of one in despair? ²⁷ Surely, the fatherless, ye would assail, and make merchandise of your friend!

²⁸ But, now, be pleased to turn to me, that it may be, to your faces, if I speak falsehood, ²⁹ Reply, I pray you, let there be no perversity, Yea reply even yet, my vindication is in it! ³⁰ Is there, in my tongue, perversity? Or can, my sense, not discern, engulfing ruin?

¹ Is there not a warfare to a mortal, upon earth? And, as the days of a hireling, are not his days? ² As, a bondman, panteth for the shadow, and as, a hireling, longeth for his wage, ³ So, have I been made to inherit months of calamity, and, nights of weariness, have been appointed me. ⁴ As soon as I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? yet he lengtheneth out the evening, and I am wearied with tossings until the breeze of twilight. ⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and a coating of dust, My skin, hath hardened, and then run afresh:

⁶ My days, are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they are spent, without hope. ⁷ Remember thou, that, a wind, is my life, not again shall mine eye see blessing: ⁸ Nor shall see me - the eye that used to behold me, Thine eyes, are upon me, and I am not. ⁹ A cloud faileth, and is gone, So, he that descendeth to hades, shall not come up: ¹⁰ He shall not return again to his house, and his own place shall be acquainted with him no more.

¹¹ I also, cannot restrain my mouth, - I must speak, in the anguish of my spirit, I must find utterance, in the bitterness of my soul. ¹² Am, I, a sea, or a sea-monster, - That thou shouldst set over me a watch? ¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall help to carry my complaint, ¹⁴ Then thou scarest me with dreams, and, by visions, dost thou terrify me: ¹⁵ So that my soul chooseth strangling, Death, rather than these my bones! ¹⁶ I am wasted away, Not, to times age-abiding, can I live, Let me alone, for, a breath, are my days.

¹⁷ What is a mortal, that thou shouldst nurture him? Or that thou shouldst fix upon him thy mind? ¹⁸ That thou shouldst inspect him morning by morning, moment by moment, shouldst test him? ¹⁹ How long wilt thou not look away from me? Wilt thou not let me alone, till I can swallow my spittle? ²⁰ I have sinned, What can I do for thee, thou watcher of men? Wherefore hast thou set me as thine object of attack, or have I become, unto thee, a burden? ²¹ And why wilt thou not remove my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For, now, in the dust, should I lie down, and thou shouldst seek me diligently, and I should not be.