Job refuted Eliphaz’ claim

1Then Job spoke again, saying to Eliphaz,

2“If all my troubles and misery could be put on a scale and weighed,

3they would be heavier than all the sands on the shores of the oceans. That is why I spoke ◄very rashly/without thinking clearly► about the day that I was born.

4It is as though Almighty God has shot me with arrows. It is as though those arrows had poison on their tips, and that poison has gone into my spirit. The things that God has done to me have terrified me.

5Just like a wild donkey does not complain by braying when it has plenty of grass to eat, and an ox does not complain by bellowing when it has food to eat [MET], I would not complain if you were really helping/comforting me.

6People complain [RHQ] when they must eat food which has no salt or other tasteless food [MET], and that is what your words are like, Eliphaz.

7Just like I do not want to eat food like that, and I loathe/detests that kind of food [MET], I do not appreciate what you have said to me.

8“I wish that God would do for me what I have requested from him [DOU].

9I wish that he would crush me and let me die. I wish that he would reach out his hand and take away my life.

10If he would do that, I would be comforted by knowing that in spite of the great pain that I have suffered, I have always obeyed what God, the Holy One, has commanded.

11But now I do not have [RHQ] enough strength to endure all these things. And since I have nothing to hope for in ◄the future/this life►,
it is difficult for me to be patient now [RHQ].

12I am not [RHQ] strong like rocks are, and my body is not made of bronze.

13So I am not able to help myself, and it seems that there is no one to rescue me.”

Job’s friends were not helping him

14“When a man has many troubles, his friends should be kind to him, even if he stops revering Almighty God.

15But you, my friends, are not dependable. You are like streams: They spill over their banks in the spring

16when the melting ice and snow make those streams overflow,

17but when the dry season comes, there is no water flowing in those streams, and the channels dry up.

18The caravans of merchants turn off the path to search for some water, but there is no water,
so they die in the desert.

19The men in those caravans search for some water because they are sure that they will find some.

20But they do not find any, so they are very disappointed.

21Similarly, you friends have not helped me at all!
You have seen that terrible things have happened to me, and you are afraid that God might do similar things to you.

22After I lost all my wealth, did I ask any of you for money? [RHQ] Did I plead with any of you to spend some of your money to help me [RHQ]?

23Have I asked any of you to rescue me from my enemies [RHQ]? Have I asked you to save me from those who ◄oppressed me/treated me badly► [RHQ]? No!”

Job insisted he had done no wrong

24“Answer me now, and then I will be quiet; tell me what wrong things I have done!

25When people speak what is true, that will not hurt the person who hears it, but what you say, criticizing me, is not true, so your saying it proves nothing [RHQ]!

26I am a man who has nothing to hope for, but you try to correct me, and you think what I say is nothing but wind [RHQ]!

27You do not sympathize with me at all for all that I am suffering. You are heartless! You would even gamble to see who gets an orphan as a prize!

28Please look at me! I will not [RHQ] lie to you.

29Stop saying that I have sinned, and stop criticizing me unjustly! You should realize that I have not done things that are wrong.

30Do you think that I am lying? No, I am not lying, because I know what is right and what is wrong [RHQ].”