Job 6

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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! ✦ ¹⁰Be it still 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 brass? ✦ 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 aside. 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 wherein I have erred. ✦ 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 shall 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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Where this chapter connects

Job 6 ·7 Job 13 ·6 Job 34 ·5 Job 42 ·5 Job 4 ·5 Job 16 ·4 Job 19 ·4 Job 21 ·4

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 6YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 6David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 6Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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