Then Job answered and said:

"Oh that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.
For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
or the ox low over his fodder?
Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?
My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are as food that is loathsome to me.

Oh that I might have my request,
and that God would fulfil my hope,
that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
This would be my comfort;
I would even exult in pain unsparing,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
Have I any help in me,
when resource is driven from me?

"He who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
as torrential streams that pass away,
which are dark with ice,
and where the snow hides itself.
When they melt, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste and perish.
The caravans of Tema look,
the travellers of Sheba hope.
They are ashamed because they were confident;
they come there and are disappointed.
For you have now become nothing;
you see my calamity and are afraid.
Have I said, 'Make me a gift'?
Or, 'From your wealth offer a bribe for me'?
Or, 'Deliver me from adversary's hand'?
Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless'?

"Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone astray.
How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
and bargain over your friend.

'But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.
Please turn; let no injustice be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
Is there any injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

"Has not man a hard service on earth,
and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?
Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
When I lie down I say, "When shall I arise?'
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
my skin hardens, the breaks out afresh.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
and come to their end without hope.

"Remember that life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
he returns no more to his house,
nor does his place know him any more.

"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint',
then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live for ever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spittle?
If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be."

Let me try to summarize briefly what Job has just said.

First he wants to adequately describe to Eliphaz what he is going through, but he can't. Eliphaz is not having much pity for Job and it's because it doesn't seem like Eliphaz really knows what Job is going through. Job says "Oh that my vexation were weighed", saying he wishes he could measure his pain and properly commicate that. He uses themes of food here to describe how he can no longer enjoy food and how God has poisoned him.

Next Job again wishes his own death. This is probably part of describing how bad it is to Eliphaz and his friends. He has nothing left, and as I mentioned early in this study, he has no resources left: how can he help himself? He says, "Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?" He goes on to say that his brothers have forsaken him. Family should have been by him at this tough time, not necessarily friends. We see in fact at the end of the book that Job has brothers and sisters who apparently have forsaken him during this tough time, but who return at the end, "The came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house." It is just as Job says, that his brothers come and go with the weather as a mountain stream.

Job then entreats Eliphaz and his friends to explain exactly what they think he's done wrong, when he says, "make me understand how I have gone astray." He wants them to be just with their words and stop falsely accusing him.

He then returns to the themes of work and rest to describe his suffering, comparing his life to that of a hired hand or slave because he cannot sleep or rest with the afflictions he has.

Most interestingly, he does not hold back his complaints from the Lord. I think we often do that, if we're going through a tough time. We like to say to God, "well, I know you've got a plan, and you'll work stuff out, and things aren't so bad right now, but please do this...", but we fail to really get honest with God about how we feel. Job doesn't have a problem with that. He tells it exactly like he feels it and blames God fully for his problems: "For the arrows of the Almighty are in me," "Why have you made me your mark?" Job knows that God is in control, and is Ultimately responsible for everything that is happening to him. He want's to know why God seems to be punishing him, understandably!

Is Job right in doing so? Well, he is called blameless at the beginning of the book and at the end where God says to Eliphaz: "For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." So clearly Job isn't commiting an aggregious sin by being Honest with God. That should be a great comfort. If we have doubts, or problems, we should feel free to take them before God. Sure, once we read the bible, and discover the truth, we might end up looking like fools, as Job does at the end, but we will be working through our problems, and ultimately we'll grow as a result.

My final comment is that Job understands, even in his old covenent position, that God should pardon his iniquity, in saying "Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?" I am constantly amazed by Job's redemptive understanding.

All bible passages are from the ESV