Job 5

5¹ "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? ² Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. ³ I have seen fools taking root, but suddenly I cursed their dwelling. ⁴ Their children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. ⁵ The hungry eat their harvest, and they take it even out of the thorns; and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

⁶ For misery does not come from the earth, nor does trouble sprout from the ground; ⁷ but human beings are born to trouble just as sparks fly upward. ⁸ "As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause. ⁹ He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. ¹⁰ He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; ¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. ¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. ¹³ He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth, from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

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