6:1   If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales,

6:2   (SEE 6:1)

6:3   they would weigh more than the sands of the sea, so my wild words should not surprise you.

6:4   Almighty God has shot me with arrows, and their poison spreads through my body. God has lined up his terrors against me.

6:5   A donkey is content when eating grass, and a cow is quiet when eating hay.

6:6   But who can eat flat, unsalted food? What taste is there in the white of an egg?

6:7   I have no appetite for food like that, and everything I eat makes me sick.

6:8   Why won't God give me what I ask? Why won't he answer my prayer?

6:9   If only he would go ahead and kill me!

6:10   If I knew he would, I would leap for joy, no matter how great my pain. I know that God is holy; I have never opposed what he commands.

6:11   What strength do I have to keep on living? Why go on living when I have no hope?

6:12   Am I made of stone? Is my body bronze?

6:13   I have no strength left to save myself; there is nowhere I can turn for help.

6:14   In trouble like this I need loyal friends--- whether I've forsaken God or not.

6:15   But you, my friends, you deceive me like streams that go dry when no rain comes.

6:16   The streams are choked with snow and ice,

6:17   but in the heat they disappear, and the stream beds lie bare and dry.

6:18   Caravans get lost looking for water; they wander and die in the desert.

6:19   Caravans from Sheba and Tema search,

6:20   but their hope dies beside dry streams.

6:21   You are like those streams to me, you see my fate and draw back in fear.

6:22   Have I asked you to give me a gift or to bribe someone on my behalf

6:23   or to save me from some enemy or tyrant?

6:24   All right, teach me; tell me my faults. I will be quiet and listen to you.

6:25   Honest words are convincing, but you are talking nonsense.

6:26   You think I am talking nothing but wind; then why do you answer my words of despair?

6:27   You would even roll dice for orphan slaves and make yourselves rich off your closest friends!

6:28   Look me in the face. I won't lie.

6:29   You have gone far enough. Stop being unjust. Don't condemn me. I'm in the right.

6:30   But you think I am lying--- you think I can't tell right from wrong.