Job6
American Standard Version · Public Domain
1Then Job answered and said,
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?
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 6.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job justifies his complaints. (1–7). He wishes for death. (8–13). Job reproves his friends as unkind. (14–30).
vv1-7
Job still justifies himself in his complaints. In addition to outward troubles, the inward sense of God's wrath took away all his courage and resolution. The feeling sense of the wrath of God is harder to bear than any outward afflictions. What then did the Saviour endure in the garden and on the cross, when he bare our sins, and his soul was made a sacrifice to Divine justice for us! Whatever burden of affliction, in body or estate, God is pleased to lay upon us, we may well submit to it as long as he continues to us the use of our reason, and the peace of our conscience; but if either of these is disturbed, our case is very pitiable. Job reflects upon his friends for their censures. He complains he had nothing offered for his relief, but what was in itself tasteless, loathsome, and burdensome.
vv8-13
Job had desired death as the happy end of his miseries. For this, Eliphaz had reproved him, but he asks for it again with more vehemence than before. It was very rash to speak thus of God destroying him. Who, for one hour, could endure the wrath of the Almighty, if he let loose his hand against him? Let us rather say with David, O spare me a little. Job grounds his comfort upon the testimony of his conscience, that he had been, in some degree, serviceable to the glory of God. Those who have grace in them, who have the evidence of it, and have it in exercise, have wisdom in them, which will be their help in the worst of times.
vv14-30
In his prosperity Job formed great expectations from his friends, but now was disappointed. This he compares to the failing of brooks in summer. Those who rest their expectations on the creature, will find it fail when it should help them; whereas those who make God their confidence, have help in the time of need, Heb 4:16. Those who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it. It is our wisdom to cease from man. Let us put all our confidence in the Rock of ages, not in broken reeds; in the Fountain of life, not in broken cisterns. The application is very close; “for now ye are nothing.” It were well for us, if we had always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, as we have had, or shall have, on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience. Job upbraids his friends with their hard usage. Though in want, he desired no more from them than a good look and a good word. It often happens that, even when we expect little from man, we have less; but from God, even when we expect much, we have more. Though Job differed from them, yet he was ready to yield as soon as it was made to appear that he was in error. Though Job had been in fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage. His righteousness he holds fast, and will not let it go. He felt that there had not been such iniquity in him as they supposed. But it is best to commit our characters to Him who keeps our souls; in the great day every upright believer shall have praise of God.
Key Words
אִיּוֹב: Ijob, the patriarch famous for his patience
עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
לוּא: a conditional particle; if; by implication (interj. as a wish) would that!
כַּעַס: vexation
הַוָּה: by implication, of falling); desire; also ruin
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
יַחַד: properly, a unit, i.e. (adverb) unitedly
מֹאזֵן: (only in the dual) a pair of scales
עַתָּה: at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletive
Cross References
Job 6Proverbs explicitly matches Job's comparison of heavy grief or wrath to the weight of sand.
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David uses the same poetic image of God's piercing arrows representing divine wrath and affliction.
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Jeremiah describes the wild ass gasping/braying in distress due to lack of grass, mirroring Job's metaphor.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Psalmist, like Job, describes his deep sorrow using the metaphor of ashes or tears as meat.
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Reflects the term 'the Holy One' used by Job, highlighting man's reciprocal obligation to be holy.
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Job elsewhere directly appeals to his friends for pity, noting the hand of God has touched him.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Hezekiah uses the identical weaving metaphor of being 'cut off' from the loom by God.
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Paul's resolve not to keep back/conceal profitable truth parallels Job's claim to have not concealed God's words.
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Contrasts Eliphaz's harshness with the proverbial expectation that a friend loves at all times.
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To deny mercy or pity to an afflicted brother demonstrates a lack of the fear of God.
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Repeats the proverb of physical taste discerning food to illustrate moral and verbal discernment.
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The ear trieth words as the mouth or taste discerneth meat, reinforcing Job's claim here.
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The Hebrew term for 'the white of an egg' literally matches the word for spittle in 1 Samuel.
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Job consistently maintains his righteousness and refuses to let go of his integrity before his friends.
Supported by Matthew Henry