Job 5

¹"Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
²Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
³ I have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.
⁴His children are far from safety;
they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
⁵The hungry eat his harvest,
and he takes it even out of thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
⁶For affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
⁷but man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.

⁸"As for me, I would seek God,
and to God would I commit my cause,
⁹who does great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number:
¹⁰he gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
¹¹he sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
¹²He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
¹³He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime
and grope at noonday as in the night.
¹⁵But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
¹⁶So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts her mouth.

¹⁷"Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
¹⁸For he wounds, but he binds up;
he shatters, but his hands heal.
¹⁹He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no evil shall touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
²¹You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
²²At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.
²³For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
²⁴You shall know that your tent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
²⁵You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,
and your descendants as the grass of the earth.
²⁶You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
like a sheaf gathered up in its season.
²⁷Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.
Hear, and know it for your good."

Job 6

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

¹Then Job answered and said:
²"Oh that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.
⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
or the ox low over his fodder?
⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?
⁷My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are as food that is loathsome to me.⁸"Oh that I might have my request,
and that God would fulfill my hope,
⁹that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
¹⁰This would be my comfort;
I would even exult in pain unsparing,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³Have I any help in me,
when resource is driven from me?

¹⁴"He who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
as torrential streams that pass away,
¹⁶which are dark with ice,
and where the snow hides itself.
¹⁷When they melt, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste and perish.
¹⁹The caravans of Tema look,
the travelers of Sheba hope.
²⁰They are ashamed because they were confident;
they come there and are disappointed.
²¹For you have now become nothing;
you see my calamity and are afraid.
²²Have I said, 'Make me a gift'?
Or, 'From your wealth offer a bribe for me'?
²³Or, 'Deliver me from the adversary’s hand'?
Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless'?

²⁴"Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
²⁷You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
and bargain over your friend.

²⁸"But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.
²⁹Please turn; let no injustice be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
³⁰Is there any injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

Job 7

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

¹"Has not man a hard service on earth,
and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?
²Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
³so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
⁴ When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?'
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.

⁷"Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
⁸ The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
¹⁰he returns no more to his house,
nor does his place know him anymore.

¹¹"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹²Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
¹³When I say, 'My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,'
¹⁴then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
¹⁵so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my bones.
¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
¹⁷ What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
¹⁸ visit him every morning
and test him every moment?
¹⁹How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?
²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be."