Job - Chapter 6 | New International Version

  • 1. Then Job replied:
  • 2. If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!
  • 3. It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas-- no wonder my words have been impetuous.
  • 4. The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God's terrors are marshaled against me.
  • 5. Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?
  • 6. Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?
  • 7. I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.
  • 8. Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,
  • 9. that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!
  • 10. Then I would still have this consolation-- my joy in unrelenting pain-- that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
  • 11. What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?
  • 12. Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?
  • 13. Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?
  • 14. A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
  • 15. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow
  • 16. when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
  • 17. but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.
  • 18. Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go up into the wasteland and perish.
  • 19. The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
  • 20. They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
  • 21. Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.
  • 22. Have I ever said, 'Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,
  • 23. deliver me from the hand of the enemy, ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless'?
  • 24. Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.
  • 25. How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?
  • 26. Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?
  • 27. You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.
  • 28. But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?
  • 29. Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
  • 30. Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?
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