Job’s Friends Are No Help
Then Job 1answered,Lit answered and said
2 “aOh that my grief were actually weighedAnd laid in the balances together with my calamity!Job 31:63 “For then it would be aheavier than the sand of the seas;Therefore my words have been rash.Job 23:24 “For the aarrows of the Almighty are within me,1Their bpoison my spirit drinks;The cterrors of God are arrayed against me.Lit WhoseJob 16:13; Ps 38:2Job 20:16; 21:20Job 30:155 “Does the awild donkey bray over his grass,Or does the ox low over his fodder?Job 39:5-86 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,Or is there any taste in the white of an 1egg?Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain. Perhaps the juice of a plant7 “My soul arefuses to touch them;They are like loathsome food to me.Job 3:24; 33:20
8 “Oh that my request might come to pass,And that God would grant my longing!9 “Would that God were awilling to crush me,That He would loose His hand and cut me off!Num 11:15; 1 Kin 19:4; Job 7:16; 9:21; 10:110 “But it is still my consolation,And I rejoice in unsparing pain,That I ahave not 1denied the words of the Holy One.Lit hiddenJob 22:22; 23:11, 1211 “What is my strength, that I should wait?And what is my end, that I should 1aendure?Lit prolong my soulJob 21:412 “Is my strength the strength of stones,Or is my flesh bronze?13 “Is it that my ahelp is not within me,And that 1bdeliverance is driven from me?So ancient versionsJob 26:2Job 26:3
14 “For the adespairing man there should be kindness from his friend;So that he does not bforsake the 1fear of the Almighty.Or reverenceJob 4:5Job 1:5; 15:415 “My brothers have acted adeceitfully like a 1wadi,Like the torrents of 2wadis which vanish,Or brooksJer 15:1816 Which are turbid because of iceAnd into which the snow 1melts.Lit hides itself17 “When athey become waterless, they 1are silent,When it is hot, they vanish from their place.Or ceaseJob 24:1918 “The 1paths of their course wind along,They go up into nothing and perish.Or caravans turn from their course, they go up into the waste and perish19 “The caravans of aTema looked,The travelers of bSheba hoped for them.Gen 25:15; Is 21:14; Jer 25:23Job 1:1520 “They awere 1disappointed for they had trusted,They came there and were confounded.Lit ashamedJer 14:321 “Indeed, you have now become such,aYou see a terror and are afraid.Ps 38:1122 “Have I said, ‘Give me something,’Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the hand of the adversary,’Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?
24 “Teach me, and aI will be silent;And show me how I have erred.Ps 39:125 “How painful are honest words!But what does your argument prove?26 “Do you intend to reprove my words,When the awords of one in despair belong to the wind?Job 8:2; 15:2; 16:327 “You would even acast lots for bthe orphansAnd cbarter over your friend.Joel 3:3; Nah 3:10Job 22:9; 24:3, 92 Pet 2:328 “Now please look at me,And see if I alie to your face.Job 27:4; 33:3; 36:429 “Desist now, let there be no injustice;Even desist, amy righteousness is yet in it.Job 13:18; 19:6; 23:10; 27:5, 6; 34:5; 42:1-630 “Is there injustice on my tongue?Cannot amy palate discern 1calamities?Or wordsJob 12:11