Job 6:17-27

17 But by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun.
18 Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink, end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
19 Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
20 They arrive so confident - but what a disappointment! They get there, and their faces fall!
21 And you, my so-called friends, are no better - there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
22 It's not as though I asked you for anything - I didn't ask you for one red cent -
23 Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me. So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24 "Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I've gone off the track.
25 Honest words never hurt anyone, but what's the point of all this pious bluster?
26 You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life, but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
27 Are people mere things to you? Are friends just items of profit and loss?
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.