Job 6:12-26

English Standard Version

¹⁴ “He who ^(A)withholds^[a] kindness from a ^(B)friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ My ^(C)brothers are ^(D)treacherous as a torrent-bed,
    as torrential ^(E)streams that pass away,
¹⁶ which are dark with ice,
    and where the snow hides itself.
¹⁷ When they melt, they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸ The caravans turn aside from their course;
    they go up into ^(F)the waste and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of ^(G)Tema look,
    the travelers of ^(H)Sheba hope.
²⁰ They are ^(I)ashamed because they were confident;
    they come there and are ^(J)disappointed.
²¹ For you have now become nothing;
    you see my calamity and are afraid.
²² Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
    Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
²³ Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary's hand’?
    Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of ^(K)the ruthless’?

²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵ How forceful are upright words!
    But what does reproof from you reprove?
²⁶ Do you think that you can reprove words,
    when the speech of a despairing man is ^(L)wind?