VerseAI

NIV

Job 6

  1. 1<pb/>Then Job replied:
  2. 2<pb/><t>“If only my anguish could be weighed</t> <t>and all my misery be placed on the scales!</t>
  3. 3<t>It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—</t> <t>no wonder my words have been impetuous.</t>
  4. 4<t>The arrows of the Almighty are in me,</t> <t>my spirit drinks in their poison;</t> <t>God’s terrors are marshaled against me.</t>
  5. 5<t>Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,</t> <t>or an ox bellow when it has fodder?</t>
  6. 6<t>Is tasteless food eaten without salt,</t> <t>or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow<f>[8]</f>?</t>
  7. 7<t>I refuse to touch it;</t> <t>such food makes me ill. <pb/></t>
  8. 8<t>“Oh, that I might have my request,</t> <t>that God would grant what I hope for,</t>
  9. 9<t>that God would be willing to crush me,</t> <t>to let loose his hand and cut off my life!</t>
  10. 10<t>Then I would still have this consolation—</t> <t>my joy in unrelenting pain—</t> <t>that I had not denied the words of the Holy One. <pb/></t>
  11. 11<t>“What strength do I have, that I should still hope?</t> <t>What prospects, that I should be patient?</t>
  12. 12<t>Do I have the strength of stone?</t> <t>Is my flesh bronze?</t>
  13. 13<t>Do I have any power to help myself,</t> <t>now that success has been driven from me? <pb/></t>
  14. 14<t>“Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend</t> <t>forsakes the fear of the Almighty.</t>
  15. 15<t>But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,</t> <t>as the streams that overflow</t>
  16. 16<t>when darkened by thawing ice</t> <t>and swollen with melting snow,</t>
  17. 17<t>but that stop flowing in the dry season,</t> <t>and in the heat vanish from their channels.</t>
  18. 18<t>Caravans turn aside from their routes;</t> <t>they go off into the wasteland and perish.</t>
  19. 19<t>The caravans of Tema look for water,</t> <t>the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.</t>
  20. 20<t>They are distressed, because they had been confident;</t> <t>they arrive there, only to be disappointed.</t>
  21. 21<t>Now you too have proved to be of no help;</t> <t>you see something dreadful and are afraid.</t>
  22. 22<t>Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,</t> <t>pay a ransom for me from your wealth,</t>
  23. 23<t>deliver me from the hand of the enemy,</t> <t>rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’? <pb/></t>
  24. 24<t>“Teach me, and I will be quiet;</t> <t>show me where I have been wrong.</t>
  25. 25<t>How painful are honest words!</t> <t>But what do your arguments prove?</t>
  26. 26<t>Do you mean to correct what I say,</t> <t>and treat my desperate words as wind?</t>
  27. 27<t>You would even cast lots for the fatherless</t> <t>and barter away your friend. <pb/></t>
  28. 28<t>“But now be so kind as to look at me.</t> <t>Would I lie to your face?</t>
  29. 29<t>Relent, do not be unjust;</t> <t>reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.<f>[9]</f></t>
  30. 30<t>Is there any wickedness on my lips?</t> <t>Can my mouth not discern malice?</t>