Job
Job 6
1 Then Job answered:
Weigh It, and See
2 “If only someone would weigh out my anger
and set my pains on the scales beside it —
3 they would come out heavier than the sand of the seashore.
But it seems my words count for nothing.
4 The arrows of the Lord are in my body,
and the heat of them drinks up my blood.
Whenever I start to speak, they sting me.
5 What of it? Does a wild donkey bray for nothing,
unless it is looking for food?
Does an ox bellow at the manger when its feed is there?
6 Can bread be eaten without salt?
Is there any taste in empty words?
7 My soul cannot come to a stop.
I see my food as a stench, like the smell of a lion.
8 If only he would grant it and my request would come,
and the Lord would give me what I hope for!
9 Let the Lord begin and wound me,
but let him not finish me off.
10 Let my city be a grave,
on whose walls I used to leap.
I will not hold back,
for I have never been false to the holy words of my God.
11 What is my strength, that I should endure?
What is my time, that my soul should hold out?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Is my flesh made of bronze?
13 Was it not in him that I had put my trust?
But help has gone far away from me.
Streams That Fail
14 Mercy has given me up,
and the Lord’s visit has looked straight past me.
15 My nearest relatives did not look at me;
like a stream that fails, like a wave, they went on by me.
16 The men who used to stand in awe of me
have come down on me now like snow, like frozen ice.
17 And as ice melts when the heat comes
and no one can tell what it was,
18 so I too have been left behind by everyone;
I am ruined, and I have no house.
19 Look at the roads of Teman,
the tracks of the Sabeans, you who are watching.
20 Those who trusted in cities and in money will owe shame.
What Have I Asked of You?
21 And you too have come at me without mercy,
so that when you saw my wound you were afraid.
22 What of it? Have I asked you for anything?
Am I begging you for strength,
23 to save me from enemies,
or to rescue me from the hand of sovereigns?
24 Teach me, and I will keep quiet.
If I have gone wrong in anything, say so.
25 But it seems a true man’s words count for nothing —
though I am not asking you for strength.
26 Your correction will not stop my words,
and I will not put up with the sound of your speech.
27 Except that you fall on an orphan
and jump on your own friend.
28 But now that I have looked into your faces, I will not lie.
29 Sit down, then, and let nothing be unjust;
come back and stand with the righteous man.
30 There is nothing unjust on my tongue.
Does my throat not give thought to understanding?”