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

¹ Then Job answered, ² “Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
³ “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
Therefore my words have been rash.
⁴ “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
Their poison my spirit drinks;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
⁵ “Does the wild donkey bray over his grass,
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
⁶ “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
⁷ “My soul refuses to touch them;
They are like loathsome food to me.

⁸ “Oh that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my longing!
⁹ “Would that God were willing to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
¹⁰ “But it is still my consolation,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹ “What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should endure?
¹² “Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
¹³ “Is it that my help is not within me,
And that deliverance is driven from me?

¹⁴ “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;
So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ “My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,
Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,
¹⁶ Which are turbid because of ice
And into which the snow melts.
¹⁷ “When they become waterless, they are silent,
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸ “The paths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.
¹⁹ “The caravans of Tema looked,
The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.
²⁰ “They were disappointed for they had trusted,
They came there and were confounded.
²¹ “Indeed, you have now become such,
You see a terror and are afraid.
²² “Have I said, ‘Give me something,’
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’
²³ Or, ‘Deliver me from the hand of the adversary,’
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?

²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent;
And show me how I have erred.
²⁵ “How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?
²⁶ “Do you intend to reprove my words,
When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?
²⁷ “You would even cast lots for the orphans
And barter over your friend.

²⁸ “Now please look at me,
And see if I lie to your face.
²⁹ “Desist now, let there be no injustice;
Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.
³⁰ “Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern calamities?

¹ “Is not man forced to labor on earth,
And are not his days like the days of a hired man?
² “As a slave who pants for the shade,
And as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages,
³ So am I allotted months of vanity,
And nights of trouble are appointed me.
⁴ “When I lie down I say,
‘When shall I arise?’
But the night continues,
And I am continually tossing until dawn.
⁵ “My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt,
My skin hardens and runs.

⁶ “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
And come to an end without hope.
⁷ “Remember that my life is but breath;
My eye will not again see good.
⁸ “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer;
Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
⁹ “When a cloud vanishes, it is gone,
So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.
¹⁰ “He will not return again to his house,
Nor will his place know him anymore.

¹¹ “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² “Am I the sea, or the sea monster,
That You set a guard over me?
¹³ “If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
My couch will ease my complaint,’
¹⁴ Then You frighten me with dreams
And terrify me by visions;
¹⁵ So that my soul would choose suffocation,
Death rather than my pains.
¹⁶ “I waste away; I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷ “What is man that You magnify him,
And that You are concerned about him,
¹⁸ That You examine him every morning
And try him every moment?
¹⁹ “Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,
Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
²⁰ “Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?
²¹ “Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me, but I will not be.”