Old Testament · Poetry and wisdom

Job chapter 6

Then Job answered:If only somebody would my , lay my ruin beside it.It would come out heavier than the sand of every sea. That is why my words .The arrows of are in me. My spirit is drinking their poison. God’s terrors are .Does a wild donkey bray when the grass is deep? Does an ox bellow over a full trough?Do you eat flat food without salt? Is there any flavor in ?My throat refuses to touch it. It is food that makes me sick.If only my request came through. If only God handed me the one thing I still hope for.That God would agree to crush me — let his hand go loose and .That would still be a comfort to me. I would leap in the middle of pain that shows no mercy, because I never buried the words of .What strength do I have left, that I should keep waiting? What ending am I holding out for?Is my strength the strength of stone? Is my body cast in bronze?There is no help left inside me. has been driven out.A man coming apart should get from his friends, even if he lets go of his fear of the Almighty.My brothers have betrayed me like a , like streambeds that run and are gone.They run dark with meltwater, swollen with the snow that hides in them.Then the heat comes and they thin out to nothing. When it burns, they go out where they lie.Caravans turn off the road to find them, go up into empty country and die there.The caravans of look for that water. The traders of count on it.They are humiliated for having trusted it. They get there, and they stand with nothing.That is what you have become to me — nothing. You saw something terrible and it frightened you off.Did I ever say, “Give me something”? “Take some of your money and buy me out of this”?“Get me clear of an enemy’s hands”? “Pay off the men who are holding me”?Teach me, and I will go quiet. Show me where I went wrong and I will listen.Straight words — I know that. But what does the arguing on your side actually prove?Do you plan on correcting my words? A desperate man’s words are just breath in the air.You would . You would haggle over your own friend.So look at me. Please. I am not going to lie to your face.Start over. Don’t let this turn crooked. Start over — I am still .Is there anything crooked on my tongue? Can my mouth not taste it when something is poison?