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Job 6-7
Evangelical Heritage Version

Round One: Job’s Second Speech

6 Then Job responded:

2 If only my grief could be weighed,
and my devastation placed on the scales with it!
3 They would certainly weigh more than the sand of the sea!
No wonder my words have been rash.[a]
4 The arrows of the Almighty stick in me.
My spirit drinks in their poison.
The terrors of God are lined up against me.

5 Does the wild donkey bray when it has green grass?
Does the ox bellow when it is near its fodder?
6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt?
Is there flavor in the white of an egg?[b]
7 I absolutely refuse to touch it.
It is no better than sickening food.

8 If only my request would be granted.
If only God would grant me what I hope for:
9     that God would decide to crush me,
    that he would unleash his hand and cut me off.
10 For then I would still have this comfort:
    Even as I writhe in relentless pain,[c]
    I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What strength do I have to wait hopefully?
What end awaits me that would make me want to prolong my life?
12 Is my strength like stone,
or is my flesh bronze?
13 Certainly I have no power to help myself,
    since the hope that I can recover has been driven far away from me.

14 A despairing person should receive loyalty[d] from his friends,
    even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as gullies that dry up,
undependable as seasonal streams which overflow
16     when they are darkened by ice and swollen with melting snow,
17     but as quickly as they flood, they dry up in the scorching winds.[e]
When it gets hot, they vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes.
They go off into the empty wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema search for these streams.
The travelers of Sheba hope to find them,
20 but despite being confident, they are disappointed.
They arrive there only to be frustrated.

21 Now that is what you are like!
You have seen something dreadful and you panic.
22 Have I said, “Give me something,
or offer a payment on my behalf from your wealth”?
23 Have I said, “Save me from the hand of my enemy,
or redeem me from the hand of the ruthless”?
24 Teach me and I will be silent.
Help me understand what I have done wrong.
25 How painful honest words are!
But what does your rebuke prove?
26 Do you intend to attack me for mere words
    by treating things said by a despairing man like wind?[f]
27 No doubt you would even cast lots for a fatherless child
and barter away your friend!

28 But now, please look at me.
I would not lie to your face!
29 Turn to me,[g] and get rid of injustice.
Turn to me. My righteousness is still intact.[h]
30 Is there any injustice on my tongue?
Wouldn’t my mouth detect it if I were speaking destructive words?[i]

7 Isn’t man’s time on earth like being compelled to serve in the army? Aren’t his days like those of a hired man?
2 Like a slave, he longs for shade,
or like a day laborer, he waits for his pay.
3 In the same way, I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of agony have been assigned to me.
4 When I lie down, I think, “How long before I get up?”
But the night drags on,
and I am filled with restlessness until dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with maggots and caked with dirt.
My skin scabs over and then oozes again.
6 My days pass by more swiftly than the shuttle of a weaver’s loom.
They come to an end without hope.

Job Addresses God

7 Remember that my life is just a breath.[j]
My eyes will never again see good fortune.
8 The eyes that see me now will no longer watch me.
Your eyes will look for me, but I will not be there.
9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so does the one who goes down to the grave.[k]
He does not come back up again.
10 He never again returns to his home,
and his place will no longer know him.
11 That is why I will not restrain my mouth.
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit.
I will lament in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea or a great creature of the deep
    that you need to put me under guard?
13 When I say that my bed will comfort me,
and my couch will help me with my lament,
14 then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so I would prefer to be strangled,
and I prefer death more than my current existence.[l]
16 I reject my life. I do not want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are just a vanishing vapor.
17 What is man that you make so much of him,
that you pay so much attention to him,
18 that you inspect[m] him every morning
and test him every minute?
19 Why do you never stop watching me?
Why don’t you leave me alone long enough for me to swallow my spit?
20 If I have sinned, what harm has it done to you,
    you who keep watch on mankind?
Why have you set me up as your target?
How have I become a burden to you?[n]
21 Why do you not forgive my rebellion?
Why do you not take away my guilt?

Soon I will lie down in the dust.
You will search for me, but I will not be there.

Footnotes

  1. Job 6:3 Or reckless
  2. Job 6:6 Another suggestion is that this term refers to the sap of some plant. In either case, the meaning remains the same: a tasteless, unappetizing substance.
  3. Job 6:10 An alternative translation is I would be joyful even in relentless pain.
  4. Job 6:14 Or mercy
  5. Job 6:17 6-17 These lines are difficult.
  6. Job 6:26 This verse is difficult.
  7. Job 6:29 Or try again
  8. Job 6:29 Or my righteousness is at stake
  9. Job 6:30 This line is difficult.
  10. Job 7:7 This verse begins a new section of Job’s speech. For the rest of the chapter, Job is no longer speaking to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, but directly to God. This happens often in Job’s speeches.
  11. Job 7:9 Hebrew sheol
  12. Job 7:15 Literally than my bones
  13. Job 7:18 Or scrutinize
  14. Job 7:20 To you is an alternate reading of the Hebrew text. The main Hebrew text reads to me.
Close LEB

Job 6-7
Lexham English Bible

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

6 Then[a] Job answered and said,

2 “If only my vexation could be well weighed,
and my calamity could be lifted up together with it in the balances,
3 for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
therefore my words have been rash,
4 for the arrows of Shaddai are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild ass bray over grass,
or the ox bellow over its fodder?
6 Can tasteless food be eaten without[b] salt,
or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?
7 I refused[c] to touch them;
they are like food that will make me ill.[d]
8 “O that[e] my request may come,
and that God may grant my hope,
9 that[f] God would decide that[g] he would crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and kill me.[h]
10 But[i] it will still be my consolation,
and I would recoil in unrelenting[j] pain,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should hold out?[k]
12 Or is my strength like the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Indeed,[l] my help is not in me,
and any success is driven from me.
14 “Loyal love[m] should come for the afflicted from his friend,
even if[n] he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed;
like a streambed of wadis[o] they flow away,
16 which are growing dark because of ice upon them,
it will pile up snow.
17 In time they dry up, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way wind around;
they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.
19 The caravans of Tema looked;
the traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
20 They are disappointed, because they trusted;
they came here[p] and they are confounded.
21 “For now you[q] have become such;[r]
you see terrors, and you fear.
22 Is it because I have said, ‘Give to me,’
or,[s] ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?
23 or,[t] ‘Save me from the foe’s hand,’
or,[u] ‘Ransom me from the tyrants’ hand’?
24 Teach me, and I myself[v] will be silent;
and make me understand how I have gone astray.
25 How painful are upright words![w]
But[x] what does your reproof[y] reprove?
26 Do you intend to reprove my words[z]
and consider the words of a desperate man as wind?
27 Even over the orphan you would cast the lot,
and you would bargain over your friend.
28 “Therefore[aa] be prepared, turn to me,
and I surely will not lie to your face.[ab]
29 Please turn, let no injustice happen;
indeed,[ac] turn, my righteousness is still intact.[ad]
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Or can my palate not discern calamity?[ae]

Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

7 “Does not a human being[af] have hard service[ag] on earth?
And are not his[ah] days like the days of a laborer?
2 Like a slave he longs for the shadow,
and like a laborer he waits for his wages.
3 So I had to inherit[ai] months of worthlessness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,[aj] ‘When shall I rise?’
But[ak] the night is long,
and I have my fill of tossing until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with maggots and clods of dust;
my skin hardens, then[al] it gives way again.
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.[am]
7 Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will not return to see good.
8 The eye of the one seeing me will not see me;
your eyes are upon me, but[an] I will be gone.[ao]
9 A cloud vanishes, and it goes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol will not come up.
10 He does not return again to his house,
and his place does not recognize him again.
11 “Even[ap] I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in my spirit’s anguish;
I will complain in my inner self’s[aq] bitterness.
12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
and my couch[ar] will ease my complaint,’
14 then[as] you terrify me with dreams,[at]
and with visions you terrify[au] me.
15 So[av] my inner self[aw] will choose[ax] strangling—
death more than my existence.[ay]
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever;
depart from me, for my days are a breath.
17 “What is a human being that you make him great
and that you fix your mind on him,[az]
18 so that[ba] you visit him every morning,[bb]
you test him every moment?[bc]
19 How long[bd] will you not turn away from me?
Or not leave me alone until I swallow[be] my spit?
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me as a target for yourself,
so that[bf] I have become a burden to myself?[bg]
21 And why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my guilt?
For now I shall lie in the dust,
and you will seek me, but[bh] I will be no more.”[bi]

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”
  5. Job 6:8 Literally “Who would give”
  6. Job 6:9 Hebrew “and”
  7. Job 6:9 Hebrew “and”
  8. Job 6:9 Literally “he would cut me off”
  9. Job 6:10 Hebrew “And”
  10. Job 6:10 Literally “he/it does not have compassion,” or “he/it does not have pity,” or “he/it does not spare”
  11. Job 6:11 Literally “I should make my self long,” or “I should lengthen my self”
  12. Job 6:13 An interrogative marker plus “if”
  13. Job 6:14 Or “Kindness”
  14. Job 6:14 Hebrew “and”
  15. Job 6:15 A seasonal stream that is often dry
  16. Job 6:20 Literally “up to it”
  17. Job 6:21 Plural throughout the rest of this chapter
  18. Job 6:21 Literally “to it,” or “for it”
  19. Job 6:22 Hebrew “and”
  20. Job 6:23 Hebrew “and”
  21. Job 6:23 Hebrew “And”
  22. Job 6:24 Emphatic personal pronoun
  23. Job 6:25 Literally “words of uprightness”
  24. Job 6:25 Hebrew “And”
  25. Job 6:25 Literally “reproving from you”
  26. Job 6:26 Or “Do you intend to reprove with words”
  27. Job 6:28 Literally “And now,” or “And so then”
  28. Job 6:28 Hebrew “faces”
  29. Job 6:29 Hebrew “and”
  30. Job 6:29 Literally “still my righteousness is in it”
  31. Job 6:30 Or “calamities”
  32. Job 7:1 Or a collective singular, “human beings”
  33. Job 7:1 Literally “hard service for a human being”
  34. Job 7:1 Or a collective singular, “their”
  35. Job 7:3 Literally “I am allotted to me”
  36. Job 7:4 Hebrew “and I say”
  37. Job 7:4 Hebrew “And”
  38. Job 7:5 Hebrew “and”
  39. Job 7:6 Literally “with nothing hope”
  40. Job 7:8 Hebrew “and”
  41. Job 7:8 Literally “there is not me,” or “I am not”
  42. Job 7:11 Or “I on my part”
  43. Job 7:11 Or “soul’s”
  44. Job 7:13 Or “bed”
  45. Job 7:14 Hebrew “and”
  46. Job 7:14 Or “the dreams”
  47. Job 7:14 Or “dishearten,” or “frighten”
  48. Job 7:15 Or “And”
  49. Job 7:15 Or “soul”
  50. Job 7:15 Or “I will choose”
  51. Job 7:15 Literally “bones”
  52. Job 7:17 Literally “you set on him your heart”
  53. Job 7:18 Hebrew “and”
  54. Job 7:18 Literally “for mornings,” or “at mornings”
  55. Job 7:18 Literally “for moments,” or “at moments”
  56. Job 7:19 Literally “Like what”
  57. Job 7:19 Or “my swallowing”
  58. Job 7:20 Hebrew “and”
  59. Job 7:20 Some translations translate as “you” (e.g., ESV, NRSV, NIV, NET)
  60. Job 7:21 Hebrew “and”
  61. Job 7:21 Literally “there is not me,” or “I am not”
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Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

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Lexham English Bible (LEB)

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