Job 4–5

¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith:— ²Hath one tried a word with thee?—Thou art weary! And to keep in words who is able? ³Lo, thou hast instructed many, And feeble hands thou makest strong. ⁴The stumbling one do thy words raise up, And bowing knees thou dost strengthen. ⁵But now, it cometh in unto thee, And thou art weary; It striketh unto thee, and thou art troubled. ⁶Is not thy reverence thy confidence? Thy hope—the perfection of thy ways?

⁷Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off? ⁸As I have seen—ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it! ⁹From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed. ¹⁰The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken. ¹¹An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.

¹²And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it. ¹³In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men, ¹⁴Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear. ¹⁵And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh; ¹⁶It standeth, and I discern not its aspect, A similitude is over-against mine eyes, Silence! and a voice I hear: ¹⁷‘Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner? ¹⁸Lo, in His servants He putteth no credence, Nor in His messengers setteth praise.’ ¹⁹Also—the inhabitants of houses of clay, (Whose foundation is in the dust, They bruise them before a moth.) ²⁰From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish. ²¹Hath not their excellency been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!

Chapter 5

¹Pray, call, is there any to answer thee? And unto which of the holy ones dost thou turn? ²For provocation slayeth the perverse, And envy putteth to death the simple, ³I—I have seen the perverse taking root, And I mark his habitation straightway, ⁴Far are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer. ⁵Whose harvest the hungry doth eat, And even from the thorns taketh it, And the designing swallowed their wealth.

⁶For sorrow cometh not forth from the dust, Nor from the ground springeth up misery. ⁷For man to misery is born, And the sparks go high to fly. ⁸Yet I—I inquire for God, And for God I give my word, ⁹Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, till there is no numbering. ¹⁰Who is giving rain on the face of the land, And is sending waters on the out-places. ¹¹To set the low on a high place, And the mourners have been high in safety. ¹²Making void thoughts of the subtile, And their hands do not execute wisdom. ¹³Capturing the wise in their subtilty, And the counsel of wrestling ones was hastened, ¹⁴By day they meet darkness, And as night—they grope at noon. ¹⁵And He saveth the wasted from their mouth, And from a strong hand the needy, ¹⁶And there is hope to the poor, And perverseness hath shut her mouth.

¹⁷Lo, the happiness of mortal man, God doth reprove him: And the chastisement of the Mighty despise not, ¹⁸For He doth pain, and He bindeth up, He smiteth, and His hands heal. ¹⁹In six distresses He delivereth thee, And in seven evil striketh not on thee. ²⁰In famine He hath redeemed thee from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword. ²¹When the tongue scourgeth thou art hid, And thou art not afraid of destruction, When it cometh. ²²At destruction and at hunger thou mockest, And of the beast of the earth, Thou art not afraid. ²³(For with sons of the field is thy covenant, And the beast of the field Hath been at peace with thee.) ²⁴And thou hast known that thy tent is peace, And inspected thy habitation, and errest not, ²⁵And hast known that numerous is Thy seed, And thine offspring as the herb of the earth; ²⁶Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season. ²⁷Lo, this—we searched it out—it is right, hearken; And thou, know for thyself!

Chapter 6