Job 5

¹ Call out now — is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?

² For vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.

³ I myself have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

⁴ His children are far from safety;
they are crushed in the gate with no one to deliver them.

⁵ The hungry devour his harvest —
even taking it from among thorns —
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

⁶ For misery does not spring from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

⁷ But a human is born to trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸ But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause —

⁹ who does great things beyond searching out,
wonders without number;

¹⁰ who gives rain upon the earth
and sends water upon the fields;

¹¹ who sets the lowly on high,
and those who mourn are raised to safety;

¹² who frustrates the plans of the crafty
so that their hands achieve no success;

¹³ who catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the counsel of the twisted is swept away.

¹⁴ By day they meet with darkness,
and at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶ So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷ How happy is the one whom God reproves!
Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up;
he strikes, but his hands heal.

¹⁹ In six troubles he will deliver you,
and in seven no harm will touch you.

²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹ From the lash of the tongue you will be hidden,
and you will not fear destruction when it comes.

²² At destruction and famine you will laugh,
and the beasts of the earth you need not fear.

²³ For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure;
you will inspect your fold and miss nothing.

²⁵ You will know that your offspring will be many,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶ You will come to the grave in ripe old age,
like a sheaf of grain gathered in its season.

²⁷ Look, this we have searched out — it is true.
Hear it, and know it for yourself.