Job 6

²Oh that my vexation were but weighed,

And all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas:

Therefore have my words been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,

The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up:

The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

⁵Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?

Or loweth the ox over his fodder?

⁶Can that which hath no savor be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuseth to touch them;

They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸Oh that I might have my request;

And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹Even that it would please God to crush me;

That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰And be it still my consolation,

Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not,

That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?

And what is mine end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones?

Or is my flesh of brass?

¹³Is it not that I have no help in me,

And that wisdom is driven quite from me?

¹⁴To him that is ready to faint kindness should be showed from his friend;

Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the channel of brooks that pass away;

¹⁶Which are black by reason of the ice,

And wherein the snow hideth itself:

¹⁷What time they wax warm, they vanish;

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside;

They go up into the waste, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰They were put to shame because they had hoped;

They came thither, and were confounded.

²¹For now ye are nothing;

Ye see a terror, and are afraid.

²²Did I say, Give unto me?

Or, Offer a present for me of your substance?

²³Or, Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?

Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

²⁴Teach me, and I will hold my peace;

And cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness!

But your reproof, what doth it reprove?

²⁶Do ye think to reprove words,

Seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind?

²⁷Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless,

And make merchandise of your friend.

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look upon me;

For surely I shall not lie to your face.

²⁹Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice;

Yea, return again, my cause is righteous.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue?

Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?