Dark Folk Ballad: My Complaint is Bitter - Job 6

The debate heats up in "Dark Folk Ballad: My Complaint is Bitter - Job 6." This song captures Job's raw, desperate response to Eliphaz.

Job argues that his despair is justified—his suffering is real, crushing, and heavier than the sand of the sea. This is a powerful human cry for empathy and an indictment of his friends' simplistic theology.

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ABOUT THE SONG:
This track is Part 6 of our 42-part series to Read the Bible Through Song using the complete text of the Book of Job. This atmospheric Dark Folk Ballad is an ideal Scripture Song for reflecting on the reality of emotional pain, the need for true empathy, and Job’s direct confrontation with his friends.

Read Along: For the NRSVUE version inspiring this ballad, read along here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...

LYRICS:
[Verse 1]
Oh, that my vexation were weighed, and my calamity laid in the scales!
It would be heavier than the sand of the sea, that’s why my voice wails.
My words have been rash, I confess, but the arrows of the Almighty are here!
My spirit drinks their poison, terrors of God arranged against my fear.
Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its feed?
Can tasteless food be eaten without salt? My appetite refuses what I need.

[Chorus]
Oh, that I might only have my request, that God would grant my desire!
That it would please God to crush me, to let loose His hand and cut me off with fire!
This would be my one consolation, I would exult in this unrelenting pain,
For I have not denied the sacred words of the Holy One, again!
What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient still?

[Verse 2]
Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty, you see.
My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed, they turned away from me.
Like swollen streams that pass and vanish when the heat of the day appears,
They run dark with ice, then disappear, confounding travelers’ hopes and fears.
Such you have now become to me, you see my calamity, and are now afraid.
Have I said, 'Make me a gift'? Or, 'From your wealth offer a ransom raid'?

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]
Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong.
How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, where does it belong?
Do you think that you can reprove words, as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
You would even cast lots over the orphan, and bargain over your true friend!
But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face this night.

[Outro]
Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
Is there any wrong upon my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?
I have no rest, I have no quiet, only trouble comes...

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