The writer continues to use parallelism in each of these verses, conveying a single idea using two different statements to emphasize Job's intense suffering as the grounds for his complaint. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])
This is a metaphor for Job's suffering. He compares his many troubles to arrows that that God has shot his body with. AT: "It is as though the Almighty has shot arrows into my body" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
"my spirit drinks up the arrows' poison." This continues the metaphor of the arrows, by implying that they had tips of poison and that Job feels the pain in his spirit. He speaks of feeling this pain as if his spirit drank the poison. AT: "I feel the pain of their poison in my inner being" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
Job speaks of the terrible things that have happened to him as if they were soldiers that God had lined up to attack him all at once. AT: "God has caused all the terrible things that could happen to happen to me all at once" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification]])
God causing many things to terrify Job is spoken of as if God's terrors were soldiers lined up to attack Job. AT: "the terrors of God have arranged themselves like soldiers in an army" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
Job poses these rhetorical questions to emphasize that he has a reason to complain. These question can be written as statements. AT: "Just as the wild donkey does not bray in despair when he has grass and as the ox does not low in hunger when he has fodder, I would not complain if I did not have a reason" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])
# Can that which has no taste be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
Possible meanings are 1) Job is comparing his displeasure for his circumstances to people's dislike for bland food or 2) Job is comparing his displeasure for his friend's advice to people's dislike for bland food. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
# Can that which has no taste be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
Job uses these rhetorical questions to emphasize his own displeasure. These questions can be written as a statement. AT: "Tasteless food cannot be eaten without salt, just as there is no taste in the white of an egg." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])
See in Reader
