5 Eliphaz: As for you, Job, feel free to call, but will anyone reply?
Among His holy attendants, to whom will you turn?
2 Remember, anger kills off the foolish,
and jealous indignation closes in on the simple for the kill.
3 I have seen a fool putting down roots, apparently succeeding,
and immediately I cursed his house, knowing this brings destruction.
4 His children are far from safe,
crushed in full view of the city’s gate with no defender nearby.
5 Hungry raiders consume his crops,
harvesting even where the thorns stand guard[a]
while drifters and con-men target his wealth.
6 You see, sorrow is not a natural product of the soil,
nor is trouble known to sprout up from the earth itself.
7 Still humankind is born into trouble,
just as embers break loose and fly from the fire.
8 This is why, if I were you, I would appeal to God;
I would lay my cause at the feet of the Lord.
9 He does wonderful things that confound,
infinite numbers of miracles.
10 He gives rain to the earth,
sends down water to the fields;
11 He lifts up the downtrodden, bolsters the bereaved,
raising them to safety.
12 He thwarts the plots of the devious
and ties their hands to failure.
13 He catches the clever in their deceitful plotting[b]
so the plans of the crafty are swept away.
14 Their day turns to darkness;
they grope at noon as they do in blackest night.
15 He saves the needy from the cutting sword,
and from the perilous grip of the powerful.
16 So there is still hope for the helpless;
and the mouth of injustice is muzzled.
17 Remember, a happy man accepts God’s correction,
so don’t despise the discipline of the Highest God.[c]
18 For the Lord may cut, but He stitches up;
He may wound, but His hands also heal.
19 In six different perils, He will rescue you;
even in seven, evil will not touch you;
20 In famine, He will save you from starvation;
and in war, you won’t be run through with the sword;
21 In slanderous situations, you will go unharmed;
in the face of chaotic destruction, you won’t tremble;
22 In violence and famine, you will laugh;
in the presence of wild animals, you won’t quiver.
23 The stones of the field will sign a treaty with you,
and you’ll enjoy a truce with the ravenous beasts.
24 You can rest knowing your tent is invincible;
for when you visit your pastures, nothing will be missing.
25 Your children and their children will be abundant,
as the blades of grass in the fields.
26 You will arrive hearty and undiminished at the grave after a long life,
like a pile of grain harvested at its peak ripeness.
27 We’ve all thought this through. It’s true, and you should hear it.
So hear it well, and know it completely.
Footnotes
- 5:5 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 5:13 1 Corinthians 3:19
- 5:17 Hebrew, Shaddai