Job6
New International Version
1Then Job replied:
2“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!
3It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas— no wonder my words have been impetuous.
4The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.
5Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?
6Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?
7I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.
8“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,
9that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!
10Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain— that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
11“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?
12Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?
13Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?
14“Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow
16when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
17but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.
18Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
20They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
21Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.
22Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,
23deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?
24“Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.
25How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?
26Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat my desperate words as wind?
27You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.
28“But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?
29Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
30Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?
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