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Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

Then Job spoke again:

“If my misery could be weighed
    and my troubles be put on the scales,
they would outweigh all the sands of the sea.
    That is why I spoke impulsively.
For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows.
    Their poison infects my spirit.
    God’s terrors are lined up against me.
Don’t I have a right to complain?
    Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass,
    and oxen bellow when they have no food?
Don’t people complain about unsalted food?
    Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?[a]
My appetite disappears when I look at it;
    I gag at the thought of eating it!

“Oh, that I might have my request,
    that God would grant my desire.
I wish he would crush me.
    I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.
10 At least I can take comfort in this:
    Despite the pain,
    I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 But I don’t have the strength to endure.
    I have nothing to live for.
12 Do I have the strength of a stone?
    Is my body made of bronze?
13 No, I am utterly helpless,
    without any chance of success.

14 “One should be kind to a fainting friend,
    but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.[b]
15 My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook
    that overflows its banks in the spring
16     when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.
17 But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.
    The brook vanishes in the heat.
18 The caravans turn aside to be refreshed,
    but there is nothing to drink, so they die.
19 The caravans from Tema search for this water;
    the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.
20 They count on it but are disappointed.
    When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.
21 You, too, have given no help.
    You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.
22 But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift?
    Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?
23 Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies,
    or to save me from ruthless people?
24 Teach me, and I will keep quiet.
    Show me what I have done wrong.
25 Honest words can be painful,
    but what do your criticisms amount to?
26 Do you think your words are convincing
    when you disregard my cry of desperation?
27 You would even send an orphan into slavery[c]
    or sell a friend.
28 Look at me!
    Would I lie to your face?
29 Stop assuming my guilt,
    for I have done no wrong.
30 Do you think I am lying?
    Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

Footnotes

  1. 6:6 Or the tasteless juice of the mallow plant?
  2. 6:14 Or friend, / or he might lose his fear of the Almighty.
  3. 6:27 Hebrew even gamble over an orphan.

But Iyov answered and said,

Oh that my ka’as (vexation) were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the scales together!

For now it would be heavier than the chol of the seas; therefore my words are impetuous.

For the khitzim (arrows) of Shaddai are in me, the poison whereof drinketh my ruach; the terrors of Eloah do set themselves in array against me.

Doth the pereh (wild donkey) bray when he hath desheh? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?

Can that which is tasteless be eaten without melach? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

The things that my nefesh refused to touch are like my loathsome lechem.

Who will grant that I might have my she’elah (request); oh that Eloah would grant me my tikveh!

Even that it would please Eloah to crush me; that He would let loose His yad, and cut me off!

10 Then should I yet have nechamah (consolation); yea, I would exult in chilah (pain); let him not spare; for I have not concealed the imrei Kadosh (words of the Holy One).

11 What is my koach, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should make patient my nefesh?

12 Is my koach the koach of avanim? Or is my basar bronze?

13 Is it that my help is not within me? And is tushiyyah (success) driven from me?

14 To him that is afflicted, chesed should be shown from his friend; otherwise, he forsaketh the fear of Shaddai.

15 Achai (my brethren) have dealt deceitfully as a wadi, and as the torrents of wadis they vanish away;

16 Which are blackish muddy by reason of the kerakh (ice), and wherein the sheleg (snow) is melted.

17 What season they become warm, they vanish; when it is hot, they disappear from their makom.

18 The paths of their derech wind about; they go up to tohu [Gn 1:2], and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema looked for them; the halichot (traveling companies) of Sheva hoped for them.

20 They were disappointed because of their bitachon; they come there and are confounded.

21 For now ye are become such; ye see my chatat (casting down), and are afraid.

22 Did I say, Bring unto me? Or, Give a present for me of your ko’ach (power, wealth)?

23 Or, Deliver me from the yad tzar (hand of the enemy, oppressor)? Or, Redeem me with a ransom from the yad of the tyrants?

24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, and cause me to have binah wherein I have erred.

25 How forcible are the imrei yosher (words of rectitude)! But what doth your hokhiach (reproof) reprove?

26 Do ye think to reprove words? The words of one in despair, which are as ruach?

27 Yea, ye cast lots for the yatom, and over your friend ye barter.

28 Now therefore be pleased to look upon me; for it is evident unto you if in me there is kazav (falsity).

29 Turn, now, let there be no iniquity; yea, turn again; at issue is my tzedek (righteousness).

30 Is there iniquity on my leshon? Cannot my palate discern havvot (perverse things)?