Job, 5

¹ “Call, please! Is there anyone answering you? And to which one of the holy ones^*1 will you turn?

² For the foolish one vexation will kill, And the one easily enticed envying will put to death.

³ I myself have seen the foolish one taking root, But suddenly I began to execrate his abiding place.

⁴ His sons remain far from salvation, And they are crushed in the gate without a deliverer.

⁵ What he harvests^*1 the hungry one eats; And even from butcher hooks^*2 one takes it, And a snare actually snaps at their means of maintenance.^*3

⁶ For not from mere dust does what is hurtful go forth, And from mere ground trouble does not spring up.

⁷ For man^*1 himself is born for trouble, As the very sparks^*2 fly upward.

⁸ However, I myself would apply to God,^*1 And to God^*2 I would submit my cause,^*3

⁹ [To the] One doing great things unsearchable,^*1 Wonderful things without number;

¹⁰ [To] the One giving rain upon the surface of the earth And sending waters upon the open fields;

¹¹ [To] the One putting those who are low on a high place, So that those who are sad are high up in salvation;

¹² [To the] One frustrating the schemes of the shrewd, So that their hands do not work with effect;

¹³ [To the] One catching the wise in their own cunning, So that the counsel of astute ones is carried headlong;

¹⁴ They encounter darkness even by day, And they grope about at midday as if at night;

¹⁵ And [to the] One saving from the sword out of their mouth, And from the hand of the strong one, a poor one,

¹⁶ So that for the lowly one there comes to be hope, But unrighteousness actually shuts its mouth.

¹⁷ Look! Happy is the man^*1 whom God^*2 reproves; And the discipline of the Almighty do not you reject!

¹⁹ In six distresses he will deliver you, And in seven nothing injurious will touch you.

²⁰ During famine he will certainly redeem you from death, And during war from the power^*1 of a sword.

²¹ From the whip of a tongue you will be hidden, And you will not be afraid of despoiling when it comes.

²² At despoiling and hunger you will laugh, And of the wild beast of the earth you need not be afraid.

²³ For with the stones of the field your covenant will be, And the wild beast of the field himself will be made to live at peace with you.

²⁴ And you will certainly know that peace itself is your tent, And you will be bound to go and see your pasture ground, and you will miss nothing.

²⁵ And you will certainly know that your offspring are many And your descendants like the vegetation of the earth.

²⁶ You will come in vigor to the burial place, As when sheaves pile up in their time.

²⁷ Look! This is what we have investigated. So is it. Hear it, and you—know it for yourself.”