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Job gives his first direct response to Eliphaz.
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Verse-by-verse study
Move from the study rendering, to the verse's place in the argument, to Hebrew and detailed language notes.
Jobs 1–8 include detailed verse-level notes from the supplied exegetical companion. Jobs 9–42 currently use the supplied whole-book synthesis and Hebrew text, with that source-depth difference marked on every verse.
Job 6:1
Anguish heavier than sand
“And Job answered and said:”Job 6:2
Anguish heavier than sand
“If only my vexation were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity lifted together in balances.”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:3
Anguish heavier than sand
“For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; therefore my words have been wild.”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:4
Anguish heavier than sand
“For the arrows of Shaddai are in me, whose poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God array themselves against me.”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:5
Anguish heavier than sand
“Does a wild donkey bray over grass? Does an ox low over its fodder?”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:6
Anguish heavier than sand
“Can the tasteless be eaten without salt? Is there flavor in the slime/juice of hallamut?”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:7
Anguish heavier than sand
“My being refuses to touch them; they are like loathsome sickness in my food.”Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:8
A request for death
“Oh that my request might come, and that God would grant what I hope for .”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:9
A request for death
“That God would be willing and crush me, that he would release his hand and cut me off.”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:10
A request for death
“Then this would still be my comfort, and I would exult or writhe in unsparing pain, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:11
A request for death
“What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:12
A request for death
“Is the strength of stones my strength? Is my flesh bronze?”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:13
A request for death
“Is there not no help within me, and has resourcefulness been driven away from me?”Commentary in context
Job 6:8-13: Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words. The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:14
Treacherous streams
“For the despairing one, loyal kindness is due from his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:15
Treacherous streams
“My brothers have acted treacherously like a wadi, like the channel of wadis that passes away.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:16
Treacherous streams
“Which are dark because of ice, upon them snow hides or piles itself.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:17
Treacherous streams
“At the time when they are scorched or melted they vanish; in the heat they disappear from their place.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:18
Treacherous streams
“The paths of their course turn aside; they go up into the waste and perish.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:19
Treacherous streams
“The caravans of Tema looked; the traveling companies of Sheba hoped for them.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:20
Treacherous streams
“They are disappointed because they trusted; they came to it and were confounded.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:21
Treacherous streams
“For now you have become nothing; you see a terror and you are afraid.”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:22
Treacherous streams
“Was it because I said, 'Give to me,' or , 'From your wealth make a gift on my behalf'?”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:23
Treacherous streams
“Or , 'Deliver me from an enemy's hand; ransom me from the hand of tyrants'?”Commentary in context
Job 6:14-23: Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness. Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:24
Teach me, do not insinuate
“Instruct me, and I will be silent; make me understand where I have strayed.”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:25
Teach me, do not insinuate
“How forceful are upright words; but what does reproof from you actually prove?”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:26
Teach me, do not insinuate
“Do you intend to reprove mere words and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:27
Teach me, do not insinuate
“Indeed, over an orphan you would cast lots, and over your friend you would bargain.”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:28
Teach me, do not insinuate
“And now, please be willing; turn toward me. Surely I would not lie to your faces.”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:29
Teach me, do not insinuate
“Turn back, please; let there be no injustice. Turn again; my righteousness is still in my case.”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Job 6:30
Teach me, do not insinuate
“Is there injustice on my tongue? Can my palate not discern destructive things or perversity?”Commentary in context
Job 6:24-30: Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words. He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Read the movement
Chapter outline and verse-range explanation
Job 6:1-7 · Anguish heavier than sand
- What is being said?
- Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him.
- Why does it matter here?
- Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.
Job 6:8-13 · A request for death
- What is being said?
- Job says he would find consolation if God ended his life, because he has not denied the Holy One's words.
- Why does it matter here?
- The passage exposes despair and calls communities to protection and presence, not romanticizing death.
Job 6:14-23 · Treacherous streams
- What is being said?
- Job compares the friends to wadis that vanish when travelers need water and asks for loyal kindness.
- Why does it matter here?
- Failed consolation compounds suffering when promised support disappears.
Job 6:24-30 · Teach me, do not insinuate
- What is being said?
- Job invites specific correction but rejects arguments that merely attack desperate words.
- Why does it matter here?
- He asks for evidence and truthful attention rather than suspicion.
Coverage check: Job 6:1-30 is covered continuously by the ranges above.
Follow the argument
Words, images, and argument flow
Key words and images
weigh, arrows, hope, kindness, teach
Hebrew observation
Hesed in verse 14 names steadfast or loyal love, the covenant-shaped care Job expected from a friend.
Argument flow
Eliphaz offered restoration if Job accepted his diagnosis. Job defends the extremity of his words, longs for death, and says his friends have become as unreliable as seasonal streams. Job turns from the friends toward God and describes the misery of mortal life.
Connection to the previous speech
Eliphaz offered restoration if Job accepted his diagnosis.
Connection to the next speech
Job turns from the friends toward God and describes the misery of mortal life.
Read beneath the cross
Law, Gospel, and Christian hope
Law
We protect tidy systems by accusing neighbors and speaking beyond what God has revealed.
Gospel
God hears Job's appeal and will finally expose false accusation rather than abandon the sufferer to it.
Theology of the cross
The cross overturns a theology of glory that measures righteousness by visible ease and power.
Lutheran theological connection
Law and Gospel must be distinguished and personally applied; true doctrine used to crush the wrong person becomes false counsel.
Christ-centered canonical connection
Job's longings for witness, mediator, and Redeemer find their sure canonical fulfillment in Christ while each Job text retains its literary context.
Life together
Pastoral and vocational application
Pastoral application
Do not diagnose calamity as punishment for a particular hidden sin without a word God has actually spoken.
Vocation and life together
Use speech to defend reputations, accompany sufferers, and correct unsupported accusations.
Harmful readings to avoid
- Do not infer a specific hidden sin from suffering, illness, bereavement, infertility, mental illness, or disaster.
- Do not treat lament or questioning as automatic unbelief.
Reflect and pray
Discussion questions
- What changes in the argument or story across Job 6?
- Which words or images in Job 6 deserve slow attention?
- What is true here, and what conclusion must not be drawn?
- How does this chapter teach us to accompany a suffering neighbor?
Prayer
Jesus, give us steadfast love for neighbors whose pain is difficult to hear.
Go further
Related themes, voices, and media
Related themes
Related speakers
Verified media
- Thy Strong Word: Job, KFUO Radio (opens in a new tab)
- 40 Minutes in the Old Testament: Job, 1517 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
- Holy Scripture, Job
- Lutheran Confessions and Small Catechism
- South Lake Job research corpus
- Job 1-8 exegetical companion
Commentary in context
Job 6:1-7: Job asks that his grief be weighed and explains that the Almighty's arrows have terrified him. Extreme speech is proportionate to extreme pain, not proof of concealed crime.