Job 6  Contemporary English Version

6 Job said:
² It's impossible to weigh
    my misery and grief!
³ They outweigh the sand
    along the beach,
and that's why I have spoken
    without thinking first.
⁴ The fearsome arrows
    of God All-Powerful
have filled my soul
    with their poison.
⁵ Do oxen and wild donkeys
cry out in distress
    unless they are hungry?
⁶ What is food without salt?
What is more tasteless
    than the white of an egg?^[a]
7 That's how my food tastes,
    and my appetite is gone.

¹⁴ My friends, I am desperate,
    and you should help me,
even if I no longer respect
    God All-Powerful.^[b]
* ¹⁵ But you are treacherous
¹⁶ like streams that swell
    with melting snow,
¹⁷ then suddenly disappear
    in the summer heat.
¹⁸ I am like a caravan,
lost in the desert
    while searching for water.
¹⁹ Caravans from Tema and Sheba^[c]
20     thought they would find water.
But they were disappointed,
²¹     just as I am with you.^[d]
Only one look at my suffering,
    and you run away scared.

²² Have I ever asked any of you
    to give me a gift
²³ or to purchase my freedom
    from brutal enemies?
²⁴ What have I done wrong?
Show me,
    and I will keep quiet.
²⁵ The truth is always painful,
but your arguments
    prove nothing.
²⁶ Here I am desperate,
and you consider my words
    as worthless as wind.
²⁷ Why, you would sell an orphan
    or your own neighbor!
²⁸ Look me straight in the eye;
    I won't lie to you.
²⁹ Stop accusing me falsely;
    my reputation is at stake.
³⁰ I know right from wrong,
    and I am not telling lies.