Job 16:6

“But ¹  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ²  and if I refrain from speaking – how ³  much of it goes away?

"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.

"If I speak, my pain is not lessened, And if I hold back, what has left me?

But as it is, my grief remains no matter how I defend myself. And it does not help if I refuse to speak.

"When I speak up, I feel no better; if I say nothing, that doesn't help either.

If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?

"If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

"Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

“But ¹  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ²  and if I refrain from speaking – how ³  much of it goes away?

¹ tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

² tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”

³ tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.