Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

Then Job answered and said:

“Oh that my vexation were weighed,
    and all my calamity laid in the balances!
For then it would be heavier than (A)the sand of the sea;
    therefore my words have been rash.
For (B)the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
    my spirit drinks their poison;
    the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
    or the ox low over his fodder?
Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
    or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?[a]
My appetite refuses to touch them;
    they are as food that is loathsome to me.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 6:6 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
  2. Job 6:7 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

Then[a] Job answered and said,

“If only my vexation could be well weighed,
and my calamity could be lifted up together with it in the balances,
for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
therefore my words have been rash,
for the arrows of Shaddai are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does the wild ass bray over grass,
or the ox bellow over its fodder?
Can tasteless food be eaten without[b] salt,
or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?
I refused[c] to touch them;
they are like food that will make me ill.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 6:1 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 6:6 Hebrew “from without”
  3. Job 6:7 Literally “My soul/throat refuses”
  4. Job 6:7 Literally “the illness of my bread/food”