Job 4:12–5:7

¹²Now a thing was secretly brought to me,

And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night,

When deep sleep falleth on men,

¹⁴Fear came upon me, and trembling,

Which made all my bones to shake.

¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face;

The hair of my flesh stood up.

¹⁶It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof;

A form was before mine eyes:

There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

¹⁷Shall mortal man be more just than God?

Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants;

And his angels he chargeth with folly:

¹⁹How much more them that dwell in houses of clay,

Whose foundation is in the dust,

Who are crushed before the moth!

²⁰Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed:

They perish for ever without any regarding it.

²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?

They die, and that without wisdom.

5Call now; is there any that will answer thee?

And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

²For vexation killeth the foolish man,

And jealousy slayeth the silly one.

³I have seen the foolish taking root:

But suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety,

And they are crushed in the gate,

Neither is there any to deliver them:

⁵Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,

And taketh it even out of the thorns;

And the snare gapeth for their substance.

⁶For affliction cometh not forth from the dust,

Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷But man is born unto trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.