Job 4:12–5:7

¹²A word was brought to me in secret;

my ears caught a whisper of it. ^h

¹³Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, ⁱ

when deep sleep ^jdescends on men,

¹⁴fear and trembling came over me ^k

and made all my bones shake.

¹⁵A wind ^lpassed by me,

and I shuddered with fear. ^m

¹⁶A figure stood there,

but I could not recognize its appearance;

a form loomed before my eyes.

I heard a quiet voice:

¹⁷“Can a person be more righteous than God,

or a man more pure than his Maker?” ⁿ

¹⁸If God puts no trust in His servants

and He charges His angels with foolishness, ^op

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in clay houses, ^q

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth!

²⁰They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;

they perish forever while no one notices. ^r

²¹Are their tent cords not pulled up?

They die without wisdom. ^s

5Call out if you please. Will anyone answer you?

Which of the holy ones ^twill you turn to?

²For anger kills a fool,

and jealousy slays the gullible. ^u

³I have seen a fool taking root,

but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

⁴His children are far from safety.

They are crushed at the city gate, ^v

with no one to rescue them.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest,

even taking it out of the thorns. ^w

The thirsty ^xpant for his children’s wealth.

⁶For distress does not grow out of the soil,

and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

⁷But mankind is born for trouble ^y

as surely as sparks fly upward.