Job 6
6
Job Answers Eliphaz
1Then Job answered:
2“I wish my suffering could be weighed
and my misery put on scales.
3My sadness would be heavier than the sand of the seas.
No wonder my words seem careless.
4The arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s terrors are gathered against me.
5A wild donkey does not bray when it has grass to eat,
and an ox is quiet when it has feed.
6Tasteless food is not eaten without salt,
and there is no flavor in the white of an egg.
7I refuse to touch it;
such food makes me sick.
8“How I wish that I might have what I ask for
and that God would give me what I hope for.
9How I wish God would crush me
and reach out his hand to destroy me.
10Then I would have this comfort
and be glad even in this unending pain,
because I would know I did not reject the words of the Holy One.
11“I do not have the strength to wait.
There is nothing to hope for,
so why should I be patient?
12I do not have the strength of stone;
my flesh is not bronze.
13I have no power to help myself,
because success has been taken away from me.
14“They say, ‘A person’s friends should be kind to him when he is in trouble,
even if he stops fearing the Almighty.’
15But my brothers cannot be counted on.
They are like streams that do not always flow,
streams that sometimes run over.
16They are made dark by melting ice
and rise with melting snow.
17But they stop flowing in the dry season;
they disappear when it is hot.
18Travelers turn away from their paths
and go into the desert and die.
19The groups of travelers from Tema look for water,
and the traders of Sheba look hopefully.
20They are upset because they had been sure;
when they arrive, they are disappointed.
21You also have been no help.
You see something terrible, and you are afraid.
22I have never said, ‘Give me a gift.
Use your wealth to pay my debt.
23Save me from the enemy’s power.
Buy me back from the clutches of cruel people.’
24“Teach me, and I will be quiet.
Show me where I have been wrong.
25Honest words are painful,
but your arguments prove nothing.
26Do you mean to correct what I say?
Will you treat the words of a troubled man as if they were only wind?
27You would even gamble for orphans
and would trade away your friend.
28“But now please look at me.
I would not lie to your face.
29Change your mind; do not be unfair;
think again, because my innocence is being questioned.
30What I am saying is not wicked;
I can tell the difference between right and wrong.
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Job 6: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Job 6
6
Job Replies to Eliphaz
God Has Dumped the Works on Me
1-7Job answered:
“If my misery could be weighed,
if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
Is it any wonder that I’m howling like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through!
God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
it makes me sick.
Pressed Past the Limits
8-13“All I want is an answer to one prayer,
a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
and be done with me for good.
I’d at least have the satisfaction
of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
before being pressed past the limits.
Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up?
What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
Do you think I’m made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
Why, I don’t even have any boots!
My So-Called Friends
14-23“When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
one day they’re gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they’re dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there’s nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It’s not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn’t ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24-27“Confront me with the truth and I’ll shut up,
show me where I’ve gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
but what’s the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what’s wrong with my life,
but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
28-30“Look me in the eyes!
Do you think I’d lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
Don’t you trust me to discern good from evil?”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.