Job 5-6

Job 5

¹“Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.

³I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

⁵whose harvest the hungry eat up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.

⁶For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

⁸“But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,

⁹who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;

¹⁰who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

¹¹so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.

¹²He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.

¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

¹⁷“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole.

¹⁹He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

²⁰In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine, neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

²³For you will be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is in peace. You will visit your fold, and will miss nothing.

²⁵You will know also that your offspring will be great, your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.

²⁷Behold, we have researched it. It is so. Hear it, and know it for your good.”

Job 6

¹Then Job answered,

²“Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore my words have been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

⁶Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

⁹even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰Let it still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze?

¹³Isn’t it that I have no help in me, that wisdom is driven away from me?

¹⁴“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

¹⁶which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

¹⁷In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

²¹For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.

²²Did I ever say, ‘Give to me’? or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance’?

²³or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?

²⁶Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

²⁷Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face.

²⁹Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?