Job 6

_1-2If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales,

₃they would weigh more than the sands of the sea,

so my wild words should not surprise you.

₄Almighty God has pierced me with arrows,

and their poison spreads through my body.

God has lined up his terrors against me.

₅A donkey is content when eating grass,

and a cow is quiet when eating hay.

₆But who can eat tasteless, unsalted food?

What flavour is there in the white of an egg?

₇I have no appetite for food like that,

and everything I eat makes me sick.

₈Why won't God give me what I ask?

Why won't he answer my prayer?

₉If only he would go ahead and kill me!

₁₀If I knew he would, I would leap for joy,

no matter how great my pain.

I know that God is holy;

I have never opposed what he commands.

₁₁What strength have I got to keep on living?

Why go on living when I have no hope?

₁₂Am I made of stone? Is my body bronze?

₁₃I have no strength left to save myself;

there is nowhere I can turn for help.

₁₄In trouble like this I need loyal friends —

whether I've forsaken God or not.

₁₅But you, my friends, you deceive me like streams

that go dry when no rain comes.

₁₆The streams are choked with snow and ice,

₁₇but in the heat they disappear,

and the stream beds lie bare and dry.

₁₈Caravans get lost looking for water;

they wander and die in the desert.

₁₉Caravans from Sheba and Tema search,

₂₀but their hope dies beside dry streams.

₂₁You are like those streams to me,

you see my fate and draw back in fear.

₂₂Have I asked you to give me a gift

or to bribe someone on my behalf

₂₃or to save me from some enemy or tyrant?

₂₄All right, teach me; tell me my faults.

I will be quiet and listen to you.

₂₅Honest words are convincing,

but you are talking nonsense.

₂₆You think I am talking nothing but wind;

then why do you answer my words of despair?

₂₇You would even throw dice for orphan slaves

and make yourselves rich off your closest friends!

₂₈Look me in the face. I won't lie.

₂₉You have gone far enough. Stop being unjust.

Don't condemn me. I'm in the right.

₃₀But you think I am lying —

you think I can't tell right from wrong.