6
Job’s Friends Are No Help
1 Then Job 1Lit answered and saidanswered,
2 “AJob 31:6Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
3 “For then it would be AJob 23:2heavier than the sand of the seas;
Therefore my words have been rash.
4 “For the AJob 16:13; Ps 38:2arrows of the Almighty are within me,
1Lit WhoseTheir BJob 20:16; 21:20poison my spirit drinks;
The CJob 30:15terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the 1Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain. Perhaps the juice of a plantwhite of an egg?
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 ANum 11:15; 1 Kin 19:4; Job 7:16; 9:21; 10:1willing 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 AJob 22:22; 23:11, 12have not 1Lit hiddendenied the words of the Holy One.
11 “What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should 1Lit prolong my soulAJob 21:4endure?
12 “Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 “Is it that my AJob 26:2help is not within me,
And that 1So ancient versionsBJob 26:3deliverance is driven from me?
So that he does not BJob 1:5; 15:4forsake the 1Or reverencefear of the Almighty.
Like the torrents of 1Or brookswadis which vanish,
16 Which are turbid because of ice
And into which the snow 1Lit hides itselfmelts.
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 “The 1Or caravans turn from their course, they go up into the waste and perishpaths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.
19 “The caravans of AGen 25:15; Is 21:14; Jer 25:23Tema looked,
The travelers of BJob 1:15Sheba hoped for them.
They came there and were confounded.
21 “Indeed, you have now become such,
APs 38:11You 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 APs 39:1I 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 AJob 8:2; 15:2; 16:3words of one in despair belong to the wind?
And C2 Pet 2:3barter over your friend.
28 “Now please look at me,
And see if I AJob 27:4; 33:3; 36:4lie to your face.
29 “Desist now, let there be no injustice;
Even desist, AJob 13:18; 19:6; 23:10; 27:5, 6; 34:5; 42:1-6my righteousness is yet in it.
30 “Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot AJob 12:11my palate discern 1Or wordscalamities?
16:1 Lit answered and said
16:4 Lit Whose
16:6 Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain. Perhaps the juice of a plant
A6:9 Num 11:15; 1 Kin 19:4; Job 7:16; 9:21; 10:1
16:10 Lit hidden
16:11 Lit prolong my soul
16:13 So ancient versions
16:14 Or reverence
16:15 Or brooks
16:15 Or brooks
16:16 Lit hides itself
16:17 Or cease
16:18 Or caravans turn from their course, they go up into the waste and perish
A6:19 Gen 25:15; Is 21:14; Jer 25:23
16:20 Lit ashamed
A6:29 Job 13:18; 19:6; 23:10; 27:5, 6; 34:5; 42:1-6
16:30 Or words