Job 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 5
1 Call now! Will anyone respond to you?
To which of the holy ones[a] will you turn?
2 Surely impatience kills the fool
and indignation slays the simpleton.
3 I have seen a fool spreading his roots,(A)
but I cursed his household suddenly:
4 May his children be far from safety;
may they be crushed at the gate[b] without a rescuer.
5 What they have reaped may the hungry eat up,
or God take away by blight,
or the thirsty swallow their substance.
6 For not from dust does mischief come,
nor from the soil does trouble sprout.
7 Human beings beget mischief
as sparks[c] fly upward.
8 In your place, I would appeal to God,
and to God I would state my plea.
9 [d]He does things great and unsearchable,
things marvelous and innumerable.
10 He gives rain upon the earth
and sends water upon the fields;
11 (B)He sets up the lowly on high,
and those who mourn are raised to safety.
12 He frustrates the plans of the cunning,
so that their hands achieve no success;
13 He catches the wise in their own ruses,(C)
and the designs of the crafty are routed.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
at noonday they grope as though it were night.
15 But he saves the poor from the sword of their mouth,[e]
from the hand of the mighty.
16 Thus the needy have hope,
and iniquity closes its mouth.
17 Happy the one whom God reproves!
The Almighty’s[f] discipline do not reject.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up;(D)
he strikes, but his hands give healing.
19 Out of six troubles he will deliver you,
and at the seventh[g] no evil shall touch you.
20 In famine he will deliver you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword;
21 From the scourge of the tongue you shall be hidden,
and you shall not fear approaching ruin.
22 At ruin and want you shall laugh;
the beasts of the earth, do not fear.
23 With the stones of the field shall your covenant be,
and the wild beasts shall be at peace with you.
24 And you shall know that your tent is secure;
taking stock of your household, you shall miss nothing.
25 You shall know that your descendants are many,
and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You shall approach the grave in full vigor,
as a shock of grain comes in at its season.
27 See, this we have searched out; so it is!
This we have heard, and you should know.
Footnotes
- 5:1 Holy ones: members of the heavenly court; cf. 1:6 and note. They were viewed as heavenly intercessors.
- 5:4 At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered.
- 5:7 Sparks: in Hebrew, “sons of resheph,” which the ancient versions took as the name of a bird. Resheph was an underworld deity of plague, but the word also means “flames” in Sg 8:6.
- 5:9 Perhaps to be omitted here; it is a duplicate of 9:10.
- 5:15 From the sword of their mouth: the Hebrew is obscure.
- 5:17 Almighty: standard translation of Heb. Shaddai.
- 5:19 Six…the seventh: proverbial expression for any large number; cf. Prv 24:16; Lk 17:4.
Job 5
GOD’S WORD Translation
Eliphaz Continues: Seek God’s Help, Job
5 “Cry out!
Is there anyone to answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Certainly, anger kills a stubborn fool,
and jealousy murders a gullible person.
3 I have seen a stubborn fool take root,
but I quickly cursed his house.
4 His children are far from help.
They are crushed at the city gate,
and no one is there to rescue them.
5 What a stubborn fool gathers, hungry people eat.
They take it even from among the thorns,
and thirsty people pant after his wealth.
6 Certainly, sorrow doesn’t come from the soil,
and trouble doesn’t sprout from the ground.
7 But a person is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly up ⌞from a fire⌟.
8 “But I would seek God’s help
and present my case to him.
9 He does great things that ⌞we⌟ cannot understand
and miracles that ⌞we⌟ cannot count.
10 He gives rain to the earth
and sends water to the fields.
11 He places lowly people up high.
He lifts those who mourn to safety.
12 He keeps shrewd people from carrying out their plans
so that they cannot do anything successfully.
13 He catches the wise with their own tricks.
The plans of schemers prove to be hasty.
14 In the daytime they meet darkness
and grope in the sunlight as if it were night.
15 “But he saves ⌞other people⌟ from their slander
and the needy from the power of the mighty.
16 Then the poor have hope
while wrongdoing shuts its mouth.
Blessing Comes When God Corrects You
17 “Blessed is the person whom God corrects.
That person should not despise discipline from the Almighty.
18 God injures, but he bandages.
He beats you up, but his hands make you well.
19 He will keep you safe from six troubles,
and when the seventh one comes, no harm will touch you:
20 “In famine he will save you from death,
and in war he will save you from the sword.
21 “When the tongue lashes out, you will be safe,
and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 “You will be able to laugh at destruction and starvation,
so do not be afraid of wild animals on the earth.
23 “You will have a binding agreement with the stones in the field,
and wild animals will be at peace with you.
24 “You will know peace in your tent.
You will inspect your house and find nothing missing.
25 “You will find that your children are many
and your descendants are like the grass of the earth.
26 “You will come to your grave at a ripe old age
like a stack of hay in the right season.
27 “We have studied all of this thoroughly! This is the way it is.
Listen to it, and learn it for yourself.”
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