Job’s Friends Are No Help
Then Job responded,
2 “aOh if only my grief were actually weighedAnd laid in the balances together with my disaster!Job 31:63 “For then it would be aheavier than the sand of the seas;For that reason my words have been rash.Job 23:24 “For the aarrows of the Almighty are within me,1My spirit drinks their bpoison;The cterrors of God line up against me.Lit Whose poison my spirit drinksJob 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 feed?Job 39:5-86 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,Or is there any taste in the juice of an 1alkanet plant?Heb hallamuth, meaning uncertain7 “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 hope!9 “Oh, that God would adecide to crush me,That He would let 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 comfort,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 a bgood outcome is driven away from me?Job 26:2Job 26:3
14 “For the adespairing man there should be kindness from his friend;So that he does not babandon the 1fear of the Almighty.Or reverence forJob 4:5Job 1:5; 15:415 “My brothers have acted adeceitfully like a 1wadi,Like the torrents of 2wadis which drain away,I.e., dry stream bed(s), except in the rainy seasonJer 15:1816 Which are darkened because of ice,And into which the snow 1melts.Lit hides itself17 “When athey dry up, they vanish;When it is hot, they disappear from their place.Job 24:1918 “The 1paths of their course wind along,They go up into wasteland 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 put to shame, for they had trusted,They came there and were humiliated.Jer 14:321 “Indeed, you have now become such,aYou see terrors and are afraid.Ps 38:1122 “Have I said, ‘Give me something,’Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth,’23 Or, ‘Save me from the hand of the enemy,’Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the tyrants’?
24 “Teach me, and aI will be silent;And show me how I have done wrong.Ps 39:125 “How painful are honest words!But what does your argument prove?26 “Do you intend to rebuke 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 orphans,And 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 am alying to your face.Job 27:4; 33:3; 36:429 “Please turn away, let there be no injustice;Turn away, amy righteousness is still in it.Job 13:18; 19:6; 23:10; 27:5, 6; 34:5; 42:1-630 “Is there injustice on my tongue?Does amy palate not discern disasters?Job 12:11