Job 5

¹Call out! Will anyone answer you?

Which of the holy ones ^a will you turn to?

²For anger kills a fool,

and jealousy slays the gullible. ^b

³I have seen a fool taking root,

but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

⁴His children are far from safety.

They are crushed at the city gate, ^c

with no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest,

even taking it out of the thorns. ^d

The thirsty ^e pant for his children’s wealth.

⁶For distress does not grow out of the soil,

and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

⁷But humans are born for trouble ^f

as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸However, if I were you, I would appeal to God

and would present my case to him. ^g

⁹He does great ^h and unsearchable things,

wonders without number. ⁱ

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth

and sends water to the fields. ^j

¹¹He sets the lowly on high,

and mourners are lifted to safety. ^k

¹²He frustrates the schemes of the crafty

so that they ^l achieve no success.

¹³He traps the wise in their craftiness

so that the plans of the deceptive

are quickly brought to an end. ^m

¹⁴They encounter darkness by day,

and they grope at noon

as if it were night. ⁿ

¹⁵He saves the needy from their sharp words ^o,^p

and from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth. ^q

¹⁷See how happy is the person whom God corrects;

so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal. ^r

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities;

no harm will touch you in seven.

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death,

and in battle, from the power of the sword. ^s

²¹You will be safe from slander ^t

and not fear destruction when it comes. ^u

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger

and not fear the land’s wild creatures.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you. ^v

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure, ^w

and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.

²⁵You will also know that your offspring will be many

and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will approach the grave ^x in full vigor, ^y

as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.

²⁷We have investigated this, and it is true!

Hear it and understand it for yourself.