Job 6 · Verse 6

Job 6:6

Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
Job 6:6, King James Version

Job 6:6 in other translations

BSBIs tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?
WEBCan that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
ASVCan that which hath no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
YLTEaten is an insipid thing without salt? Is there sense in the drivel of dreams?
DARBYShall that which is insipid be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the white of an egg?
BBEWill a man take food which has no taste without salt? or is there any taste in the soft substance of purslain?
WebsterCan that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

What does Job 6:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. unsavoury--tasteless, insipid. Salt is a chief necessary of life to an Easterner, whose food is mostly vegetable. the white--literally, "spittle" (1Sa 21:13), which the white of an egg resembles.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 Can that which is unsavoury - Mr. Good renders this verse as follows: Doth insipid food without a mixture of salt, yea, doth the white of the egg give forth pungency? Which he thus illustrates: "Doth that which hath nothing of seasoning, nothing of a pungent or irritable power within it, produce pungency or irritation? I too should be quiet and complain not, if I had nothing provocative or acrimonious, but, alas! the food I am doomed to partake of is the very calamity which is most acute to my soul - that which I most loathe, and which is most grievous or trying to my palate." Some render the original, Is there any dependence on the drivel of dreams? There have been a great variety of interpretations given of this verse. I could add another; but that of Mr. Good is as likely to be correct as that of any other critic.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 6:1-7

Job still justifies himself in his complaints. In addition to outward troubles, the inward sense of God's wrath took away all his courage and resolution. The feeling sense of the wrath of God is harder to bear than any outward afflictions. What then did the Saviour endure in the garden and on the cross, when he bare our sins, and his soul was made a sacrifice to Divine justice for us! Whatever burden of affliction…

Read the full comment on Job 6:1-7 →

Job 6:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֲיֵאָכֵ֣לha.ye.'a.Khel¿ is it eatenH398
תָּ֭פֵלTa.feltasteless [food]H8602
מִבְּלִי\־mi.be.li-because notH1097
מֶ֑לַחMe.lachsaltH4417
אִם\־'im-or?H518
יֶשׁ\־yesh-[is] thereH3426
טַ֝֗עַםTa.'amtasteH2940
בְּרִ֣ירbe.Ririn [the] slime ofH7388
חַלָּמֽוּת\׃cha.la.MutpurslaneH2495

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 6:6

  • Job 34:3

    For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.

  • Job 6:30

    Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

  • Job 12:11

    Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

  • Leviticus 2:13

    And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

  • Luke 14:34

    Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

  • Colossians 4:6

    Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

  • Job 6:25

    How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

  • Hebrews 6:4-5

    For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

  • Job 16:2

    I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

  • Psalms 119:103

    How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
that which.
25; 16:2; Le 2:13; Lu 14:34; Col 4:6
taste.
30; 12:11; 34:3; Ps 119:103; Heb 6:4,5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 6:5

    Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?

  • Job 6:6

    Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

  • Job 6:7

    The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

Read all of Job 6

Job 6:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Comeráse lo desabrido sin sal? ¿ó habrá gusto en la clara del huevo?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ce qui est insipide, le mange-t-on sans sel? Y a-t-il de la saveur dans le blanc d’un œuf?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wird Fades, Salzloses gegessen? Oder ist Geschmack im Eiweiß?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		aut poterit comedi insulsum, quod non est sale conditum? aut potest aliquis gustare quod gustatum affert mortem?