Job

Job 6

30 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Then Job answered,

2“Oh that my anguish were 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. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me. 5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder? 6Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
8“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant 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! 10Let still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient? 12Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze? 13Isn’t it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?
14“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away; 16Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself. 17In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 18The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish. 19The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them. 20They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded. 21For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. 22Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’ 23or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’ or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’
24“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error. 25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove? 26Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind? 27Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. 28Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face. 29Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous. 30Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 71 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17144

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–7

Eliphaz, in the beginning of his discourse, had been very sharp upon Job, and yet it does not appear that Job gave him any interruption, but heard him patiently till he had said all he had to say. Those that would make an impartial judgment of a discourse…

v. 8–13

Ungoverned passion often grows more violent when it meets with some rebuke and check. The troubled sea rages most when it dashes against a rock. Job had been courting death, as that which would be the happy period of his miseries, ch. 3. For this Eliphaz had…

v. 14–21

Eliphaz had been very severe in his censures of Job; and his companions, though as yet they had said little, yet had intimated their concurrence with him. Their unkindness therein poor Job here complains of, as an aggravation of his calamity and a further…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176330

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

But Job answered and said. Though Eliphaz thought his speech was unanswerable, being, as he and his friends judged, unquestionably true, and the fruit of strict, laborious, and diligent search and inquiry; or, "then Job answered" (t), as the same particle is…

v. 2

Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed,.... Or, "in weighing weighed" (u), most nicely and exactly weighed; that is, his grievous affliction, which caused so much grief of heart, and which had been shown in words and gestures; or his "wrath" and "anger"…

v. 3

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea,.... Or "seas" (z); all sand is heavy in its own nature, Proverbs 27:3; especially the sand of the sea, that which is immediately taken out of it; for that on the shore is lighter, being dried by the winds…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18759

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–4

1 Then began Job, and said: 2 Oh that my vexation were but weighed, And they would put my suffering in the balance against it! 3 Then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: Therefore my words are rash. 4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me, The…

v. 5–7

5 Doth the wild ass bray at fresh grass? Or loweth an ox over good fodder? 6 Is that which is tasteless eaten unsalted? Or is there flavour in the white of an egg? 7 That which my soul refused to touch, The same is as my loathsome food. The meaning of the…

v. 8–10

8 Would that my request were fulfilled, And that Eloah would grant my expectation, 9 That Eloah were willing and would crush me, Let loose His hand and cut me off: 10 Then I should still have comfort - (I should exult in unsparing pain) - That I have not…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187128

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 3

the sand-- (Pro 27:3). are swallowed up--See Margin [that is, "I want words to express my grief"]. But Job plainly is apologizing, not for not having had words enough, but for having spoken too much and too boldly; and the Hebrew is, "to speak rashly"…

v. 4

arrows . . . within me--have pierced me. A poetic image representing the avenging Almighty armed with bow and arrows (Psa 38:2-3). Here the arrows are poisoned. Peculiarly appropriate, in reference to the burning pains which penetrated, like poison, into the…

v. 5

Neither wild animals, as the wild ass, nor tame, as the ox, are dissatisfied when well-supplied with food. The braying of the one and the lowing of the other prove distress and want of palatable food. So, Job argues, if he complains, it is not without cause…

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