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JOB · Trinity Bible Version

Job 6

The full text of Job 6 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.

All of Job KJV

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 If only my anguish could be weighed,
and my calamity placed on the scales together —

3 it would be heavier than the sand of the seas!
That is why my words have been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison.
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

5 Does the wild donkey bray over grass?
Does the ox low over its fodder?

6 Can tasteless food be eaten without salt?
Is there any flavor in the slime of a mallow?

7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like the sickness of my food.

8 If only my request would come,
and God would grant my hope —

9 that God would be willing to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10 That would still be my comfort —
I would writhe in unsparing pain —
that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
What is my end, that I should be patient?

12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Is my flesh bronze?

13 Is there any help left within me?
Has sound wisdom been driven from me?

14 To the one who is failing, loyalty is due from his friend —
even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15 My brothers are treacherous like a wadi,
like the channels of wadis that vanish —

16 dark with ice,
where the snow hides itself;

17 in the time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

18 The paths of their course wind about;
they go up into the waste and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look;
the travelers of Sheba hope for them.

20 They are disappointed because they trusted;
they come there and are confounded.

21 Indeed, you have now become nothing.
You see terror and are afraid.

22 Did I say, "Give to me"?
Or, "Pay a bribe for me from your wealth"?

23 Or, "Deliver me from the enemy's hand"?
Or, "Ransom me from the hand of the ruthless"?

24 Teach me, and I will be silent;
show me where I have gone wrong.

25 How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?

26 Do you plan to rebuke my words,
treating the speech of a desperate man as wind?

27 You would even cast lots over an orphan
and haggle over your friend.

28 Now please — turn and look at me.
Would I lie to your face?

29 Relent, I beg you — let there be no injustice!
Relent — my righteousness is still in it!

30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern what is ruinous?

Translation notes (22)
  1. Job 6:2a Hebrew ka'as (כַּעַשׂ), 'vexation', denotes provoked grief or inward agitation, while hawwah (הַוָּה), 'ruin', signifies engulfing disaster rather than mere misfortune. Job invokes the imagery of the merchant's balance, asking that his inner torment and outward calamity be weighed together as one load.
  2. Job 6:3a The Hebrew word 'la'u' means 'they have swallowed,' 'been rash,' or 'been wild.' Job acknowledges that his speech may seem unrestrained but claims he is justified.
  3. Job 6:4a The Hebrew word 'khamatam' means 'their venom' or 'poison.' This refers to divine arrows tipped with poison, portraying God as a hostile warrior.
  4. Job 6:5a The proverb assumes that animals cry out only when they lack food; a satisfied pere' (פֶּרֶא), 'wild donkey', or ox is silent. Job's point is that his complaint, like the animal's bray, is evidence of genuine deprivation rather than groundless grumbling.
  5. Job 6:6a The Hebrew phrase 'riyr khallamut' is very uncertain in meaning, possibly referring to 'slime or juice of purslane or mallow,' or 'the white of an egg.' The overall point is to describe insipid, repulsive food.
  6. Job 6:7a The Hebrew phrase 'hemah kidwey lakhmi' means 'they are as the sickness or loathsomeness of my bread.' The exact meaning of this phrase is uncertain.
  7. Job 6:9a Job's plea to be cut off uses batsa' (בָּצַע), 'to sever', the verb for a weaver cutting finished cloth from the loom; Hezekiah applies the same image to his own death in Isaiah 38:12. Paired with daka', 'to crush', the language asks God to finish deliberately what affliction has begun.
  8. Job 6:10a The Hebrew phrase 'wa'asalledah bekhilah lo yakhmol' means 'I would leap or exult in pain that does not spare.' Even in agony, Job finds comfort in his integrity.
  9. Job 6:11a The Hebrew term qitsi (קִצִּי), 'my end', refers to the limit or boundary of Job's life or endurance, implying a point beyond which he cannot continue.
  10. Job 6:12a The rhetorical questions emphasize the extreme suffering Job endures, portraying his body as neither invulnerable like stone nor impenetrable like bronze.
  11. Job 6:13a The Hebrew word 'tushiyyah' means 'success,' 'effective resource,' or 'sound wisdom.' This is the same word Eliphaz used in Job 5:12.
  12. Job 6:14a The Hebrew phrase 'lammas mereʻehu khasad' has difficult syntax, meaning the arrangement of its words is complex. It could possibly mean 'the failing one should have loyalty from his friend' or 'one who withholds loyalty from his friend is failing'.
  13. Job 6:15a A wadi (Hebrew nachal) is a desert streambed that runs full in the rainy season but lies dry in summer heat, precisely when travelers most need water. Job charges that his friends bagdu, 'have acted treacherously', like these streams: promising in appearance, absent in the moment of need. The image continues through verse 20.
  14. Job 6:16a The Hebrew describes wadis made dark (qadar) by ice and snowmelt. These seasonal flows quickly vanish in warmer weather, leaving behind a dry creekbed.
  15. Job 6:17a The Hebrew bezorvu nitsmetu (בְּזֹרְבָם נִצְמְתוּ) literally means 'when they grow warm, they are silenced.' This refers to the seasonal wadis that disappear during the heat.
  16. Job 6:18a The Hebrew phrase 'yillafetu orkhot darkam' means 'the caravans of their way turn aside,' or it can also be translated as 'the courses of their path wind about'.
  17. Job 6:19a Tema, an oasis in northwest Arabia, and Sheba, in the south, were stations on the ancient Arabian caravan routes. Job's image is of traders who count on finding water in the seasonal wadis, only to arrive and find them dry. The verb qivvu, 'they hope', anticipates the disappointment of the following verse.
  18. Job 6:21a The Hebrew phrase 'ki attah heyitem lo' means 'for now you have become nothing' or 'not.' Some early manuscripts read 'lo' (meaning 'to him') rather than 'lo'' (meaning 'not'), which changes the meaning of the verse.
  19. Job 6:25a The Hebrew phrase 'ma-nimretsu imrey yosher' means 'how forceful or painful are words of uprightness.' Job values truth even when it causes pain.
  20. Job 6:27a The Hebrew phrase 'tappilu al-yatom' means 'you cast lots upon an orphan.' This describes treating vulnerable persons as if they were mere commodities.
  21. Job 6:29a The Hebrew phrase 'od tsidqi-vah' means 'still my righteousness is in it.' This indicates that his case or cause still stands.
  22. Job 6:30a Hebrew chikki, 'my palate' (חִכִּי), names the organ of taste as the seat of discernment, an idiom Job uses again in 12:11, where the palate tests words as the ear tests speech. The object is hawwot, 'ruinous things', a term elsewhere used of destructive speech (Psalm 52:2). Job insists his moral taste is intact: he can still tell wholesome words from calamitous ones.
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About this translation

The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is a new translation of the Bible prepared by Trinity Bible — rendered from the original Hebrew and faithful to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. Finished in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation you can read today, and it is available only through Trinity Bible. All 66 books, including Job, are free to read on this site.

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