Job 4-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Has Sinned
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?
But who can keep from speaking?(A)
3 See, you have instructed many;
you have strengthened the weak hands.(B)
4 Your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.(C)
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.(D)
6 Is not your fear of God your confidence
and the integrity of your ways your hope?(E)
7 “Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?(F)
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.(G)
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.(H)
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
and the teeth of the young lions are broken.(I)
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.(J)
12 “Now a word came stealing to me;
my ear received the whisper of it.(K)
13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
14 dread came upon me and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.(L)
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh bristled.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence; then I heard a voice:
17 ‘Can mortals be righteous before[a] God?
Can humans be pure before[b] their Maker?(M)
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;(N)
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth.(O)
20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed;
they perish forever without any regarding it.(P)
21 Their tent cord is plucked up within them,
and they die devoid of wisdom.’(Q)
Job Is Corrected by God
5 “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?(R)
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.(S)
3 I have seen fools taking root,
but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.(T)
4 Their children are far from safety,
they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.(U)
5 The hungry eat their harvest,
and they take it even out of the thorns,[c]
and the thirsty[d] pant after their wealth.(V)
6 For misery does not come from the earth,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
7 but humans are born to trouble
just as sparks[e] fly upward.(W)
8 “As for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.(X)
9 He does great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number.(Y)
10 He gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;(Z)
11 he sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.(AA)
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.(AB)
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime
and grope at noonday as in the night.(AC)
15 But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
from the hand of the mighty.(AD)
16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.(AE)
17 “How happy is the one whom God reproves;
therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.[f](AF)
18 For he wounds, but he binds up;
he strikes, but his hands heal.(AG)
19 He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no harm shall touch you.(AH)
20 In famine he will redeem you from death
and in war from the power of the sword.(AI)
21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.(AJ)
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh
and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.(AK)
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.(AL)
24 You shall know that your tent is safe;
you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.(AM)
25 You shall know that your descendants will be many
and your offspring like the grass of the earth.(AN)
26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.(AO)
27 See, we have searched this out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for yourself.”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.