World English Bible
- Then Job answered,
- “Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!
- For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore my words have been rash.
- For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
- Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
- My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
- “Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,
- even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
- Let it 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.
- What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
- Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze?
- Isn’t it that I have no help in me, that wisdom is driven away from me?
- “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
- which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.
- In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
- The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.
- The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.
- They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.
- For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.
- Did I ever say, ‘Give to me’? or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance’?
- or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors’?
- “Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error.
- How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
- Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
- Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.
- Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face.
- Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.
- Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?
Job 6 — Salt for Desert Sorrow
“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—therefore my words have been rash” (Job 6:2–3, New International Version). Yesterday we heard Eliphaz speak of the Almighty who wounds and heals. Today Job answers: the wounding is real, the healing not yet. This chapter is the anatomy of a soul under unbearable weight.
Weight Job’s first plea is not for answers but for calibration. “Weigh my grief,” he says, “before you weigh my words.” The Hebrew poetry is bold: “the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me” (English Standard Version). Job names God as the ultimate agent because biblical lament dares to speak to the One who reigns. This is not blasphemy but covenant intimacy. Gregory the Great saw here the righteous sufferer speaking Christ’s idiom: God’s arrows ultimately lodge in Christ’s own body at the cross (Psalm 38:2; Isaiah 53:5), where God bears God’s terrors for us.
Taste A strange culinary interlude: “Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste…?” (Job 6:6, English Standard Version). The rare Hebrew term may mean “white of an egg” or “juice of the mallow”—either way, blandness. Job is saying: your counsel is protein without flavor, technically correct perhaps, but loveless. In Hebrew, “taste” (ta’am) also means discernment; Abigail’s “discretion” in 1 Samuel 25:33 is literally good taste. Job finally asks, “Does not my palate discern calamity?” (Job 6:30, English Standard Version). He knows the difference between truth that heals and truth that merely sits on the tongue. Crosswinds of Scripture meet here: “Season your speech with salt” (Colossians 4:6, English Standard Version) and “Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings” (Leviticus 2:13, New International Version). Covenant truth is salted with mercy.
Water Job turns to desert hydrology: “My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed… the caravans of Tema look… the travelers of Sheba hope… they are ashamed” (Job 6:15–20, English Standard Version). Western readers may miss the force. In Arabia, wadis surge with snowmelt in winter and vanish under summer heat. Archaeology confirms Tema as a major oasis on the incense route; Sheba’s caravans carried frankincense north—survival hinged on reliable water. Job accuses his friends of evaporating compassion: impressive in cool seasons, gone when heat rises. Withholding hesed—covenant kindness—from a friend, he says, is practical atheism: “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14, English Standard Version; hesed is the word behind “kindness”). James agrees: “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13, English Standard Version).
A theology for the ash heap Job asks only this: “Teach me, and I will be silent” (Job 6:24, English Standard Version). Point to a real sin and I will repent. But do not prosecute the wind—“Do you think to reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?” (Job 6:26, English Standard Version). Calvin counseled pastors not to hunt heresy in the cries of the afflicted; Luther called such seasons Anfechtungen, temptations that make us speak beyond ourselves. The friends chase statements; wisdom tends to souls.
Practice for the church: - Weigh grief before you weigh words (2 Corinthians 1:8–9). - Let your counsel be salted with covenant kindness (Colossians 4:6; Leviticus 2:13). - Be a winter river, not a summer wadi; stay when the heat rises (Romans 12:15; Galatians 6:2). - Hold the tension: the God we accuse is the God we trust. Christ has stood where Job stands, and from within our lament He gives living water (John 7:37–39).
Hymn suggestion: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” (desert, water, faithful leading).
Prayer Holy One, weigh our sorrows and teach our tongues. Forgive our unsalted words. Make us friends who carry hesed through the heat. When Your arrows find us, shelter us in the wounds of Christ, where judgment becomes mercy and deserts bloom. Give us discernment that tastes what heals, and courage to remain by the ash heap until You speak. Amen.