“Call if you will, but who will answer you?(A)
    To which of the holy ones(B) will you turn?
Resentment(C) kills a fool,
    and envy slays the simple.(D)
I myself have seen(E) a fool taking root,(F)
    but suddenly(G) his house was cursed.(H)
His children(I) are far from safety,(J)
    crushed in court(K) without a defender.(L)
The hungry consume his harvest,(M)
    taking it even from among thorns,
    and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
For hardship does not spring from the soil,
    nor does trouble sprout from the ground.(N)
Yet man is born to trouble(O)
    as surely as sparks fly upward.

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Eliphaz’s Response Continues

“Call now, is there anyone answering you?
And to which of the holy ones will you turn?
For vexation will slay the fool,
and jealousy will kill the simple.
I have seen a fool taking root,
but[a] suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
His children are far from deliverance,
and they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no deliverer—
whose harvest the hungry eats,
and he takes it from behind[b] the thorns;
and the thirsty pants after their wealth.
Indeed,[c] mischief does not come from the dust,
and trouble does not sprout from the earth.
But a human being is born to trouble,
and they soar aloft[d] like sparks.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 5:3 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 5:5 Literally “to from”
  3. Job 5:6 Or “For”
  4. Job 5:7 Literally “they make high to fly”
  5. Job 5:7 Literally “children of flame”