The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
- BSB My soul refuses to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.
- NKJV My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me.
- NASB “My soul refuses to touch them; They are like loathsome food to me.
- NLT My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His soul refuses to touch such food, which has become loathsome to him. Job expresses revulsion at his suffering, or at the unsavory counsel he is given.
Overview
Job confesses that what is set before him, his afflictions or his friends' arguments, is as repugnant as food he cannot stomach. The verse captures the visceral recoil of a soul in deep distress. Such raw honesty before God is not faithlessness but a form of faith that brings real anguish to him, trusting that the God revealed in Christ welcomes the burdened rather than turning them away.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Kgs 22:27And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
- Dan 10:3I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
- Ps 102:9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
- Job 3:24For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
- 1 Kgs 17:12And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
- Ezek 4:14Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
- Ezek 4:16Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
- Ezek 12:18–19Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 6:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.