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Eliphaz’s Response Continues

“Cry for help, but will anyone answer you?
    Which of the angels[a] will help you?
Surely resentment destroys the fool,
    and jealousy kills the simple.
I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment,
    but then comes sudden disaster.
Their children are abandoned far from help;
    they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.
The hungry devour their harvest,
    even when it is guarded by brambles.[b]
    The thirsty pant after their wealth.[c]
But evil does not spring from the soil,
    and trouble does not sprout from the earth.
People are born for trouble
    as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:1 Hebrew the holy ones.
  2. 5:5a The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
  3. 5:5b As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads A snare snatches their wealth.

Life’s problems

Call out. Will anyone answer you?
    To which holy one will you turn?
Surely anger can kill the foolish;
    fury can kill the simple.
I’ve seen the foolish take root
    and promptly curse their house.
Their children are far[a] from safety,
    crushed in the gate without a deliverer.
The hungry devour[b] their crops;
    it’s taken even from the thorns,[c]
    and the thirsty pant after their yield.
Surely trouble doesn’t come from dust,
    nor does distress sprout from the ground.
Surely humans are born to distress,
    just as sparks rise up.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 5:4 Or May their children be far from safety.
  2. Job 5:5 or May the hungry devour their crops.
  3. Job 5:5 Heb uncertain