Job 5

5“Call if you want to, Job, but no one will answer you.

You can’t turn to any of the holy ones.

²Anger kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the stupid.

³I have seen a fool succeed,

but I cursed his home immediately.

⁴His children are far from safety

and are crushed in court with no defense.

⁵The hungry eat his harvest,

even taking what grew among the thorns,

and thirsty people want his wealth.

⁶Hard times do not come up from the ground,

and trouble does not grow from the earth.

⁷People produce trouble

as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“But if I were you, I would call on God

and bring my problem before him.

⁹God does wonders that cannot be understood;

he does so many miracles they cannot be counted.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth

and sends water on the fields.

¹¹He makes the humble person important

and lifts the sad to places of safety.

¹²He ruins the plans of those who trick others

so they have no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their own clever traps

and sweeps away the plans of those who try to trick others.

¹⁴Darkness covers them up in the daytime;

even at noon they feel around in the dark.

¹⁵God saves the needy from their lies

and from the harm done by powerful people.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

while those who are unfair are silenced.

¹⁷“The one whom God corrects is happy,

so do not hate being corrected by the Almighty.

¹⁸God hurts, but he also bandages up;

he injures, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹He will save you from six troubles;

even seven troubles will not harm you.

²⁰God will buy you back from death in times of hunger,

and in battle he will save you from the sword.

²¹You will be protected from the tongue that strikes like a whip,

and you will not be afraid when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger,

and you will not fear the wild animals,

²³because you will have an agreement with the stones in the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is safe,

because you will check the things you own and find nothing missing.

²⁵You will know that you will have many children,

and your descendants will be like the grass on the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave with all your strength,

like bundles of grain gathered at the right time.

²⁷“We have checked this, and it is true,

so hear it and decide what it means to you.”