Job 5-8

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

5 Call now—is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn?

² For ^[a]vexation and rage kill the foolish man; jealousy and indignation slay the simple.

³ I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain].

⁴ His children are far from safety; [involved in their father’s ruin] they are crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

⁵ His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth.

⁶ For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground.

⁷ But man is born to trouble as the sparks and the flames fly upward.

⁸ As for me, I would seek God and inquire of and require Him, and to God would I commit my cause—

⁹ Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number,

¹⁰ Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields,

¹¹ So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety.

¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of [lasting] worth.

¹³ He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end.^(A)

¹⁴ In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵ But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth.

¹⁷ Happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering].

¹⁸ For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal.

¹⁹ He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you.

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

²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth.

²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

²⁴ And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold and your dwelling and miss nothing [from them].

²⁵ You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season.

²⁷ This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear and heed it and know for yourself [for your good].

6 Then Job answered,

² Oh, that my impatience and vexation might be [thoroughly] weighed and all my calamity be laid up over against them in the balances, one against the other [to see if my grief is unmanly]!

³ For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash and wild,

⁴ [But it is] because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison which my spirit drinks up; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵ Does the wild ass bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?

⁶ Can that which has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?

⁷ [These afflictions] my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me [sickening and repugnant]!

⁸ Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹ I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰ Then would I still have consolation—yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it]—that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One!

¹¹ What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?

¹² Is my strength and endurance that of stones? Or is my flesh made of bronze?

¹³ Is it not that I have no help in myself, and that wisdom is quite driven from me?

¹⁴ To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵ [You] my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,

¹⁶ Which are black and turbid by reason of the ice, and in which the snows hides itself;

¹⁷ When they get warm, they shrink and disappear; when it is hot, they vanish out of their place.

¹⁸ The caravans which travel by way of them turn aside; they go into the waste places and perish. [Such is my disappointment in you, the friends I fully trusted.]

¹⁹ The caravans of Tema looked [for water], the companies of Sheba waited for them [in vain].

²⁰ They were confounded because they had hoped [to find water]; they came there and were bitterly disappointed.

²¹ Now to me you are [like a dried-up brook]; you see my dismay and terror, and [believing me to be a victim of God’s anger] you are afraid [to sympathize with me].

²² Did I ever say, Bring me a gift, or Pay a bribe on my account from your wealth

²³ To deliver me from the adversary’s hand, or Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

²⁴ Teach me, and I will hold my peace; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵ How forcible are words of straightforward speech! But what does your arguing argue and prove or your reproof reprove?

²⁶ Do you imagine your words to be an argument, but the speeches of one who is desperate to be as wind?

²⁷ Yes, you would cast lots over the fatherless and bargain away your friend.

²⁸ Now be pleased to look upon me, that it may be evident to you if I lie [for surely I would not lie to your face].

²⁹ Return [from your suspicion], I pray you, let there be no injustice; yes, return again [to confidence in me], my vindication is in it.

³⁰ Is there wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern what is destructive?

7 Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

² As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,

³ So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

⁴ When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.

⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷ Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.

⁸ The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.

⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more.

¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord]!

¹² Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that You set a watch over me?

¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,

¹⁴ Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,

¹⁵ So that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones.

¹⁶ I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).

¹⁷ What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him?^(B)

¹⁸ And that You should visit him every morning and try him every moment?

¹⁹ How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

²⁰ If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men? Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?

²¹ And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently, [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.

8 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite,

² How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind?

³ Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴ If your children have sinned against Him, then He has delivered them into the power of their transgression.

⁵ If you will seek God diligently and make your supplication to the Almighty,

⁶ Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again.

⁷ And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸ For inquire, I pray you, of the former age and apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out,

⁹ For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.

¹⁰ Shall not [the forefathers] teach you and tell you and utter words out of their hearts (the deepest part of their nature)?

¹¹ Can the rush or papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the flag or reed grass grow without water?

¹² While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water].

¹³ So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish.

¹⁴ For his confidence breaks, and [the object of] his trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵ He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not last.

¹⁶ He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷ [Godless] his roots are wrapped about the [stone] heap, and see their way [promisingly] among the rocks.

¹⁸ But if [God] snatches him from his property, [then having passed into the hands of others] it [his property] will forget and deny him, [saying,] I have never seen you [before, as if ashamed of him—like his former friends].

¹⁹ See, this is the joy of going the way [of the ungodly]! And from the dust others will spring up [to take his place].

²⁰ Behold, as surely as God will never uphold wrongdoers, He will never cast away a blameless man.

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter [Job] and your lips with joyful shouting.

²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tents of the wicked shall be no more.