Job 5

New International Version

• 1. "Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
• 2. Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
• 3. I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
• 4. His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
• 5. The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
• 6. For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
• 7. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
• 8. "But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
• 9. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
• 10. He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside.
• 11. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
• 12. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
• 13. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
• 14. Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.
• 15. He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
• 16. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
• 17. "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
• 18. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.
• 19. From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you.
• 20. In famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
• 21. You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.
• 22. You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
• 23. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
• 24. You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
• 25. You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
• 26. You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season.
• 27. "We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself."

New International Version