Add parallel Print Page Options

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!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 6:6 Or the tasteless juice of the mallow plant?

Job defends his anger

Job responded:

Oh, that my grief were actually weighed,
    all of it were lifted up in scales;
    for now it’s heavier than the sands of the sea;
        therefore, my words are rash.[a]
The Almighty’s arrows are in me;
    my spirit drinks their poison,
    and God’s terrors are arrayed against me.
Does a donkey bray over grass
    or an ox bellow over its fodder?
Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
    or does egg white[b] have taste?
I refuse to touch them;
    they resemble food for the sick.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 6:3 Heb uncertain
  2. Job 6:6 Heb uncertain