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“Call now; is there any who will answer you?
    To which of the holy ones will you turn?
For resentment kills the foolish man,
    and jealousy kills the simple.
I have seen the foolish taking root,
    but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
His children are far from safety.
    They are crushed in the gate.
    Neither is there any to deliver them,
whose harvest the hungry eats up,
    and take it even out of the thorns.
    The snare gapes for their substance.
For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust,
    neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
but man is born to trouble,
    as the sparks fly upward.

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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.