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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!

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Footnotes

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

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

Then Job answered:

If only my grief could be weighed
and my devastation(A) placed with it on the scales.(B)
For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas!
That is why my words are rash.
Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced[a] me;
my spirit drinks their poison.
God’s terrors are arrayed against me.(C)
Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass
or an ox low over its fodder?
Is bland food eaten without salt?
Is there flavor in an egg white?[b]
I refuse to touch them;
they are like contaminated food.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 6:4 Lit Almighty are in
  2. 6:6 Hb obscure