Job 5

5Call out, Job. See if anyone answers.

Is there any angel to whom you can turn?

²To worry yourself to death with resentment

would be a foolish, senseless thing to do.

³I have seen fools who looked secure,

but I called down a sudden curse on their homes.

⁴Their children can never find safety;

no one stands up to defend them in court.

⁵Hungry people will eat the fool’s crops—

even the grain growing among thorns—ⁱ

and thirsty people will envy his wealth.

⁶Evil does not grow in the soil,

nor does trouble grow out of the ground.

⁷No indeed! People bring trouble on themselves,

as surely as sparks fly up from a fire.^j

⁸If I were you, I would turn to God

and present my case to him.

⁹We cannot understand the great things he does,

and to his miracles there is no end.

¹⁰He sends rain on the land

and he waters the fields.

¹¹Yes, it is God who raises the humble

and gives joy to all who mourn.

^12–13He upsets the plans of cunning people,

and traps the wise in their own schemes,

so that nothing they do succeeds;

¹⁴even at noon they grope in darkness.

¹⁵But God saves the poor^k from death;

he saves the needy from oppression.

¹⁶He gives hope to the poor and silences the wicked.

^17*Happy is the person whom God corrects!

Do not resent it when he rebukes you.

^18*God bandages the wounds he makes;

his hand hurts you, and his hand heals.

¹⁹Time after time he will save you from harm;

²⁰when famine comes, he will keep you alive,

and in war protect you from death.

²¹God will rescue you from slander;

he will save you when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at violence and hunger

and not be afraid of wild animals.

²³The fields you plough will be free of rocks;

wild animals will never attack you.

²⁴Then you will live at peace in your tent;

when you look at your sheep, you will find them safe.

²⁵You will have as many children

as there are blades of grass in a pasture.

²⁶Like wheat that ripens till harvest time,

you will live to a ripe old age.

²⁷Job, we have learnt this by long study.

It is true, so now accept it.