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6:1  Job replied,
6:2  “I wish my great pain could be weighed! I wish all my suffering could be weighed on scales!
6:3  I’m sure it would weigh more than the grains of sand on the seashore. No wonder I’ve been so quick to speak!
6:4  The Mighty One has shot me with his arrows. I have to drink their poison. God’s terrors are aimed at me.
6:5  Does a wild donkey cry out when it has enough grass? Does an ox call out when it has plenty of food?
6:6  Is food that doesn’t have any taste eaten without salt? Is there any flavor in the sap of a mallow plant?
6:7  I refuse to touch that kind of food. It makes me sick.
6:8  “I wish I could have what I’m asking for! I wish God would give me what I’m hoping for!
6:9  I wish he would crush me! I wish he would just cut off my life!
6:10  Then I’d still have one thing to comfort me. It would be that I haven’t said no to the Holy One’s commands. That would give me joy in spite of my pain that never ends.
6:11  “I’m so weak that I no longer have any hope. Things have gotten so bad that I can’t wait for help anymore.
6:12  Am I as strong as stone? Is my body made out of bronze?
6:13  I don’t have the power to help myself. All hope of success has been taken away from me.
6:14  “A person shouldn’t stop being kind to a friend. Anyone who does that stops showing respect for the Mighty One.
6:15  But my friends have stopped being kind to me. They are like streams that only flow for part of the year. They are like rivers that flow over their banks
6:16  when the ice begins to break up. The streams rise when the snow starts to melt.
6:17  But they stop flowing when the dry season comes. They disappear from their stream beds when the weather warms up.
6:18  Groups of traders turn away from their usual paths. They go off into the dry and empty land. And they die there.
6:19  Traders from Tema look for water. Traveling merchants from Sheba also hope to find it.
6:20  They become troubled because they had expected to find some. But when they arrive at the stream beds, they don’t find any water at all.
6:21  And now, my friends, you haven’t helped me either. You see the horrible condition I’m in. And that makes you afraid.
6:22  I’ve never said, ‘Give me something to help me. Use your wealth to set me free.
6:23  Save me from the power of my enemy. Rescue me from the power of mean people.’
6:24  “Teach me. Then I’ll be quiet. Show me what I’ve done wrong.
6:25  Honest words are so painful! But your reasoning doesn’t prove anything.
6:26  Are you trying to correct what I’m saying? Are you treating my hopeless words like nothing but wind?
6:27  You would even cast lots for those whose fathers have died. You would even trade away your closest friend.
6:28  “But now please look at me. Would I tell you a lie right here in front of you?
6:29  Stop what you are saying. Don’t be so unfair. Think it over again. You are trying to take my honesty away from me.
6:30  Has my mouth spoken anything that is evil? Do my lips say things that are hateful?”