Book of Job, Chapter 6
Job 6 NWT - New World TranslationChapter 6 of Job—New World Translation (NWT)
- ¶ And Job proceeded to answer and say:
- ¶ “O that my vexation1 were altogether weighed,
And that at the same time my adversity they would put on scales themselves! - ¶ For now it is heavier even than the sands of the seas.
That is why my own words have been wild talk.2 - ¶ For the arrows of the Almighty[a] are with me,3
The venom of which my spirit is drinking;4
The terrors from God[b] range themselves up against me.[c]5 - ¶ Will a zebra[d]6 cry out over grass,
Or a bull low over its fodder? - ¶ Will tasteless things be eaten without salt,
Or is there any taste in the slimy juice of marshmallow? - ¶ My soul has refused to touch [anything].
They are like disease in my food. - ¶ O that my request would come
And that God[e] would grant even my hope! - ¶ And that God would go ahead and crush me,
That he would release his hand and cut me off!7 - ¶ Even it would still be my comfort;
And I should leap [for joy]8 at [my] labor pains,
[Though] he would have no compassion, for I have not hidden the sayings9 of the Holy One.10 - ¶ What is my power, that I should keep waiting?11
And what is my end, that I should keep prolonging my soul?[f] - ¶ Is my power the power of stones?
Or is my flesh of copper? - ¶ Is it that self-assistance is not in me,
And effectual working itself has been chased away from me? - ¶ As regards anyone who withholds loving-kindness[g] from his own fellow,12
He will also leave off even the fear of the Almighty.13 - ¶ My own brothers have dealt treacherously,14 like a winter torrent,
Like the channel of winter torrents that keep passing away. - ¶ They are dark from ice,
Upon them snow hides itself. - ¶ In due season they become waterless,15 they have been silenced;
When it grows hot they are dried up from their place.16 - ¶ The paths of their way are turned aside;
They go up into the empty place and perish. - ¶ The caravans of Teʹma17 have looked,
The traveling company of Sa·beʹans[h]18 have waited for them. - ¶ They certainly are ashamed because they had trusted;
They have come clear to the place and they get disappointed.19 - ¶ For now YOU men have amounted to nothing;20
YOU see terror, and YOU become afraid.21 - ¶ Is it because I have said, ‘GIVE me [something],
Or from some of the power of YOU men make a present in my behalf; - ¶ And rescue me out of the hand of an adversary,22
And out of the hand of tyrants YOU men should redeem me’?23 - ¶ Instruct me, and I, for my part, shall be silent;24
And what mistake I have committed make me understand.25 - ¶ The sayings of uprightness have been—O not painful!26
But what does reproving[i] on the part of YOU men reprove?27 - ¶ Is it to reprove words that YOU men scheme,
When the sayings of one in despair28 are for mere wind?29 - ¶ How much more will YOU cast lots even over someone fatherless,30
And barter over YOUR companion!31 - ¶ And now GO ahead, pay attention to me,
[And see] whether I shall lie32 to YOUR very faces. - ¶ Return, please—let no unrighteousness arise—
Yes, return—my righteousness is yet in it.33 - ¶ Is there unrighteousness on my tongue,
Or does my own palate not discern adversity?
FOOTNOTES
- ^ “Jehovah,” LXXVg.
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah.
- ^ “Cast me out from social intercourse,” by the transposition of two letters in M.
- ^ Or, “onager; wild ass.”
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah.
- ^ Or, “my life [as a soul].” Heb., naph·shiʹ; Gr., psy·kheʹ.
- ^ Or, “loyal love.”
- ^ Lit., “Sheba.”
- ^ “Reproving.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
REFERENCES
- ^ Ps 31:9
- ^ Jm 3:2
- ^ Ps 38:2
- ^ Pr 18:14
- ^ Ps 88:16
- ^ Jb 24:5; Je 14:6
- ^ Nu 11:15; 1Ki 19:4; Jb 3:21; Jon 4:3
- ^ Jb 3:22
- ^ Ps 40:9; Ac 20:27
- ^ Le 19:2; Ho 11:9; 1Pe 1:15
- ^ Jb 7:7; Ps 103:15
- ^ Pr 3:3; 19:22; Ho 6:6; Zc 7:9; Mt 25:44
- ^ Jb 23:16; 1Jo 3:17
- ^ Jb 19:19; Ps 38:11
- ^ Jd 12
- ^ Jb 24:19
- ^ Ge 25:15; Is 21:14
- ^ Jb 1:15
- ^ Je 14:3
- ^ Jb 13:4
- ^ Ps 38:11
- ^ Ge 14:16
- ^ 2Sa 4:9; Ps 55:18
- ^ Jb 32:11
- ^ Ps 19:12, 13; Pr 19:25
- ^ Pr 12:18; 25:11
- ^ Jb 16:3; 21:34
- ^ Jb 10:1
- ^ Jb 8:2
- ^ Jb 31:21; Ml 3:5
- ^ Ge 37:28
- ^ Jb 27:4
- ^ Jb 17:10
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