Job 6

Then Job answered:

1But Job answered and said,

2"If only my grief could be weighed, and all my trouble piled on the scales along with it!

2Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!

3It would weigh more than all the sand of the seas. That is why my words have come out wild.

3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

Note"My words are swallowed up" translates a Hebrew phrase whose sense is uncertain. It is usually taken to mean that his words have been wild, rash, or choked off, spoken the way a man speaks when pain overwhelms him.

4The arrows of the Almighty are stuck in me, and my spirit drinks in their poison. The terrors of God are lined up against me like an army.

4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

Note"The Almighty" renders the Hebrew name Shaddai, an old title for God used far more often in Job than anywhere else in the Bible; its original meaning is no longer certain. Arrows tipped with poison were a real weapon, and in the ancient world sudden illness or disaster was commonly pictured as arrows shot by a god. "Set themselves in array" is a military term: troops drawn up in battle formation.

5Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass to eat? Does an ox bellow when its food is in front of it?

5Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?

NoteA proverb rather than a question about animals. A grazing animal only cries out when something is wrong; Job is arguing that his outcry is evidence that something really is wrong, not proof that he is a complainer.

6Can food with no flavor be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?

6Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

NoteThe Hebrew behind "the white of an egg" is obscure. It may mean egg white, or the slimy juice of a plant such as purslane or mallow; either way the point is food with no taste.

7The very things I refused to touch are now the food I have to live on, and it sickens me.

7The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

NoteIn the ancient world some foods were refused as disgusting or as ritually forbidden. Job says that what he once would not even touch is now what he has to live on, his suffering has become his daily diet.

8If only I could get what I ask for, and God would give me the one thing I long for!

8Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

9This: that God would be willing to crush me, to let his hand go and cut me off.

9Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

Note"Cut me off" uses the picture of a weaver cutting the finished cloth free from the loom, a life snipped off at the end. "Let loose his hand" means to stop holding back the blow.

10Then I would still have comfort. I would brace myself in pain that never lets up. Let him not hold back, because I have never denied the words of the Holy One.

10Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

Note"Harden myself in sorrow" is an obscure phrase; it is read either as bracing oneself against unrelenting pain or as leaping up in a kind of grim exultation. "The Holy One" is a title for God.

11What strength do I have left, that I should keep hoping? What future is coming, that I should stretch out my life?

11What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?

12Is my strength the strength of stone? Is my body made of bronze?

12Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?

NoteBronze was the hardest worked metal familiar to the writer's world, used for weapons and armor. Job is saying he is only flesh, not built to absorb blows indefinitely.

13Is there any help left inside me? Has all my ability to get through this been driven away?

13Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?

NoteThe word behind "wisdom" here (tushiyah) means practical resourcefulness, the inner competence that gets a person through a crisis, rather than learning or insight.

14A man worn down by trouble should be shown kindness by his friend, even if he lets go of his fear of the Almighty.

14To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

NoteOne of the hardest verses in the book. The second half can be read at least two ways: that a suffering friend deserves loyalty even if he has let go of his own reverence for God, or that the friend who withholds that loyalty is the one abandoning reverence for God. The Hebrew allows both.

15But my brothers have failed me like a desert stream, like streambeds that run full and then run dry.

15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;

NoteA wadi: a desert watercourse that runs as a torrent when the rains and snowmelt come and is bone dry the rest of the year. To a traveler it is the type of a thing that fails you exactly when you need it.

16They are dark with ice, and swollen with snow that has melted into them.

16Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:

17But when the dry season comes, they stop flowing. In the heat they disappear from their beds.

17What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18The paths they follow turn aside. They wander out into empty country and die there.

18The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

NoteThe Hebrew is ambiguous. It may describe caravans turning off their route to find the water, or the streambeds themselves twisting away and petering out into the desert.

19The caravans of Tema looked for water there. The traders of Sheba counted on finding it.

19The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.

NoteTema was an oasis town in north-western Arabia; Sheba lay far to the south, in the region of modern Yemen. Both were staging points on the caravan routes, so "the caravans of Tema" means long-distance traders whose survival depended on knowing where water would be.

20They were let down, because they had put their hope in it. They arrived, and there was nothing.

20They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.

21That is what you are to me now: nothing. You see something terrible, and you are afraid.

21For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.

NoteThe Hebrew of the first line was read differently by different ancient copyists, either "you have become nothing" or "you have become like it," that is, like the dried-up stream.

22Did I ever say to you, 'Give me something,' or, 'Pay a bribe for me out of your own wealth'?

22Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?

NoteA "reward" or bribe out of a friend's wealth would be a payment made on someone else's behalf, to buy off a creditor, an official, or a captor. Job points out he has never asked his friends for money, only for sympathy.

23Or, 'Rescue me from my enemy's hand,' or, 'Buy me back from the grip of cruel men'?

23Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?

NoteTo "redeem" is to buy a person out of the hands of an enemy, a captor, or a creditor by paying a price. Under Israelite custom this was a duty that fell on a close relative.

24Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Make me understand where I have gone wrong.

24Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

25Honest words carry real force. But what does your arguing actually prove?

25How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

NoteThe Hebrew verb is disputed: honest words may be "forceful" (they land and convince) or "painful" (they hurt to hear). Both readings are current among translators.

26Do you mean to correct my words, and treat what a desperate man says as if it were only wind?

26Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

27You would even cast lots over an orphan, and sell out your own friend.

27Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.

NoteCasting lots was how property, and sometimes people, were divided among claimants, the practice used when soldiers or creditors split up what was left. "The fatherless" was a standard legal category for those with no family protector, whom the law and custom singled out for protection; seizing one as a debt-slave was a byword for cruelty. The King James "dig a pit for your friend" reflects a different reading of the same line, picturing a trap set for a companion.

28So now, please, look straight at me. You can tell for yourselves whether I am lying.

28Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.

29Think it over again, I ask you. Do not be unfair. Think again, because I am in the right here.

29Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.

NoteLegal language. "Iniquity" here means a miscarriage of justice, a wrong verdict, and Job's "righteousness" means that he is in the right in this particular dispute, not that he claims to be faultless. He is asking them to retry the case.

30Is there anything false on my tongue? Can my mouth not tell when something is wrong?"

30Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

NotePicking up the food images of verses 6 and 7: the palate that tells good food from spoiled stands for the judgment that tells truth from falsehood. Job asks whether they think even his sense of right and wrong has failed.