Job 6:1-20
New American Standard Bible
Job’s Friends Are No Help
6 Then Job responded,
2 “(A)Oh if only my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my disaster!
3 For then it would be (B)heavier than the sand of the seas;
For that reason my words have been rash.
4 For the (C)arrows of the Almighty are within me,
[a]My spirit drinks their (D)poison;
The (E)terrors of God line up against me.
5 Does the (F)wild donkey bray over his grass,
Or does the ox low over his feed?
6 Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the [b]juice of an alkanet plant?
7 My soul (G)refuses to touch them;
They are like loathsome food to me.
8 “Oh, that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my hope!
9 Oh, that God would (H)decide to crush me,
That He would let loose His hand and cut me off!
10 But it is still my comfort,
And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
That I (I)have not [c]denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should [d](J)endure?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is it that my (K)help is not within me,
And that a (L)good outcome is driven away from me?
14 “For the (M)despairing man there should be kindness from his friend;
So that he does not (N)abandon the [e]fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have acted (O)deceitfully like a [f]wadi,
Like the torrents of [g]wadis which drain away,
16 Which are darkened because of ice,
And into which the snow [h]melts.
17 When (P)they dry up, they vanish;
When it is hot, they disappear from their place.
18 The [i]paths of their course wind along,
They go up into wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of (Q)Tema looked,
The travelers of (R)Sheba hoped for them.
20 They (S)were put to shame, for they had trusted,
They came there and were humiliated.
Footnotes
- Job 6:4 Lit Whose poison my spirit drinks
- Job 6:6 Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain
- Job 6:10 Lit hidden
- Job 6:11 Lit prolong my soul
- Job 6:14 Or reverence for
- Job 6:15 I.e., dry stream bed(s), except in the rainy season
- Job 6:15 I.e., dry stream bed(s), except in the rainy season
- Job 6:16 Lit hides itself
- Job 6:18 Or caravans turn from their course, they go up into the waste and perish
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Bible Gateway Recommends
