Job 6

1 Job said:

2 It's impossible to weigh my misery and grief!

3 They outweigh the sand along the beach, and that's why I have spoken without thinking first.

4 The fearsome arrows of God All-Powerful have filled my soul with their poison.

5 Do oxen and wild donkeys cry out in distress unless they are hungry?

6 What is food without salt? What is more tasteless than the white of an egg?

7 That's how my food tastes, and my appetite is gone. *

8 How I wish that God would answer my prayer

9 and do away with me.

10 Then I would be comforted, knowing that in all of my pain I have never disobeyed God.

11 Why should I patiently hope when my strength is gone?

12 I am not strong as stone or bronze,

13 and I have finally reached the end of my rope.

14 My friends, I am desperate, and you should help me, even if I no longer respect God All-Powerful. *

15 But you are treacherous

16 like streams that swell with melting snow,

17 then suddenly disappear in the summer heat.

18 I am like a caravan, lost in the desert while searching for water.

19 Caravans from Tema and Sheba

20 thought they would find water. But they were disappointed,

21 just as I am with you. Only one look at my suffering, and you run away scared.

22 Have I ever asked any of you to give me a gift

23 or to purchase my freedom from brutal enemies?

24 What have I done wrong? Show me, and I will keep quiet.

25 The truth is always painful, but your arguments prove nothing.

26 Here I am desperate, and you consider my words as worthless as wind.

27 Why, you would sell an orphan or your own neighbor!

28 Look me straight in the eye; I won't lie to you.

29 Stop accusing me falsely; my reputation is at stake.

30 I know right from wrong, and I am not telling lies.