6:1 Then Job responded: 1
6:2 “Oh, 2 if only my grief 3 could be weighed, 4
and my misfortune laid 5 on the scales too! 6
6:3 But because it is heavier 7 than the sand 8 of the sea,
that is why my words have been wild. 9
6:4 For the arrows 10 of the Almighty 11 are within me;
my spirit 12 drinks their poison; 13
God’s sudden terrors 14 are arrayed 15 against me.
6:5 “Does the wild donkey 16 bray 17 when it is near grass? 18
Or 19 does the ox low near its fodder? 20
6:6 Can food that is tasteless 21 be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white 22 of an egg?
6:7 I 23 have refused 24 to touch such things; 25
they are like loathsome food to me. 26
6:8 “Oh that 27 my request would be realized, 28
and that God would grant me what I long for! 29
6:9 And that God would be willing 30 to crush me,
that he would let loose 31 his hand
and 32 kill me. 33
6:10 Then I would yet have my comfort, 34
then 35 I would rejoice, 36
in spite of pitiless pain, 37
for 38 I have not concealed the words 39 of the Holy One. 40
6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? 41
and what is my end, 42
that I should prolong my life?
6:12 Is my strength like that of stones? 43
or is my flesh made of bronze?
6:13 Is 44 not my power to help myself nothing,
and has not every resource 45 been driven from me?
6:14 “To the one in despair, kindness 46 should come from his friend 47
even if 48 he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
6:15 My brothers 49 have been as treacherous 50 as a seasonal stream, 51
and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams 52
that flow away. 53
6:16 They 54 are dark 55 because of ice;
snow is piled 56 up over them. 57
6:17 When they are scorched, 58 they dry up,
when it is hot, they vanish 59 from their place.
6:18 Caravans 60 turn aside from their routes;
they go 61 into the wasteland 62 and perish. 63
6:19 The caravans of Tema 64 looked intently 65 for these streams; 66
the traveling merchants 67 of Sheba hoped for them.