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Job 6 · a question people ask

Is Job saying he has forsaken the fear of the Almighty (6:14)?

In the text

The verse doesn't say whom Job means. It speaks of "him who is ready to faint" and "him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty" (6:14) and names no one. In Hebrew fear there is yir'ah, the word Eliphaz used when he asked Job, "Isn’t your piety your confidence?" (4:6) (tap fear). In the same speech Job asks, "Cause me to understand my error" (6:24), and says, "My cause is righteous" (6:29). The book's own voice called him "one who feared God" (1:1). The chapter doesn't settle how 6:14 applies to Job, and this study doesn't either.

The verses

““To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”
Job 6:14 · World English Bible
“Isn’t your piety your confidence? Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?”
Job 4:6 · World English Bible
““Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error.”
Job 6:24 · World English Bible
“Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.”
Job 6:29 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 6

Job 6: Kindness from his friend

Job never asked his friends for a present or to be redeemed (6:22-23). He says chesed, kindness, should be shown from a friend to one who is, in a Hebrew word found only here in the Hebrew Bible, ready to faint (6:14), and he asks, "Teach me, and I will hold my peace" (6:24).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions