Job 6 - Introduction

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 6:1-30

114.

Job responds to Eliphaz, but also to more than Eliphaz. Show how so.

115.

Job finds no comfort from his friends so he turns to whom?

116.

There are three kinds of suffering carefully distinguished in the scriptures. What are they? Discuss.

117.

Name the three parts into which Job's speech falls.

118.

Job's theme is not God's indignation but something else. What?

119.

Job admits he has been rash. How so? Why?

120.

Why is the pain harder to bear merely because he believes in God?

121.

Is God an archer? Does He aim arrows at us? Discuss.

122.

Powerful distress imagery is used by Job. Cite two examples.

123.

Something nauseating is implied in verses six and seven. What does the imagery say about the speech of Eliphaz?

124.

Job's strong and often request was for one thing. What was it?

125.

What is meant by the expression let loose His hand in Job 6:9?

126.

Job has one consolation in the midst of his suffering. What was it?

127.

Job has lost hope. Of what? Why?

128.

What is meant by the question of Job 6:13?

129.

Job's friends did not really care. What indicated this fact?

130.

In what way were Job's brethren like a brook?

131.

How can we relate Job 6:16 to Job's friends?

132.

These friends are very unreliable. To what are they compared?

133.

Job is very disappointed. To what is his disappointment compared?

134.

Job has a real capacity for creating the metaphor. List the ones used in Job 6:15-23.

135.

Job's friends have been frightened and have forgotten. How so?

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

Job

1-2 If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales,
3 they would weigh more than the sands of the sea.

My wild words should not surprise you

4 Almighty God has shot me with arrows,

and their poison spreads through my body.

God has lined up his terrors against me.

5 A donkey is content when eating grass,

and a cow is quiet when eating hay.

6 But who can eat flat, unsalted food?

What taste is there in the white of an egg?

7 I have no appetite for food like that,

and everything I eat makes me sick.

8 Why won-'t God give me what I ask?

Why won-'t he answer my prayer?

9 I wish he would go ahead and kill me.
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.

11 What strength do I have to keep on living?

Why go on living when I have no hope?

12 Am I made of stone? Is my body bronze?
13 I have no strength left to save myself;

there is nowhere I can turn for help.

14 In trouble like this I need loyal friends

whether I-'ve forsaken God or not.

15 But you, my friends, you deceive me like a stream

that goes dry when no rain comes.

16-17 The stream is full of snow and ice,

but in the heat they disappear,
and the stream bed lies bare and dry.

18 Caravans get lost looking for water;

they wander and die in the desert.

19 Caravans from Sheba and Tema search,
20 but their hope dies beside dry streams.
21 You are like those streams to me;

you see my fate and are shocked.

22 Have I asked you to give me a gift,

or to bribe someone on my behalf,

23 or to save me from some enemy or tyrant?
24 All right, teach me; tell me my faults.

I will be quiet and listen to you.

25 An intelligent argument might convince me,

but you are talking nonsense.

26 You think I am talking nothing but wind;

then why do you answer my words of despair?

27 You would even roll dice for orphan slaves,

and make yourselves rich off your closest friends 1

28 Look me in the face. I won-'t lie.
29 You have gone far enough. Stop being unjust.

Don-'t condemn me. I-'m in the right.

30 But still you think I am lying

you think I can-'t tell right from wrong.