Job 4-5

Complete Jewish Bible

4 Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke up:

²“If one tries to speak to you, will you mind?
Yet who could keep from speaking?
³You have given moral instruction to many,
you have firmed up feeble hands,
⁴your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have strengthened the weak-kneed.

⁵“But now it comes to you, and you are impatient;
at the first touch, you are in shock.
⁶Isn’t your fear of God your assurance,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Think back: what innocent person has perished?
Since when are the upright destroyed?
⁸What I see is that those who plow sin
and sow trouble reap just that.
⁹At a breath from God, they perish;
at a blast from his anger, they are consumed.
¹⁰The lion may growl, the king lion may roar,
but that old lion’s teeth are broken;
¹¹so the lion succumbs from lack of prey,
and the lion’s cubs are scattered.

¹²“For a word was stealthily brought to me,
my ear caught only a whisper of it.
¹³In passing thoughts flashing through visions at night,
when sleep lies heavy on people,
¹⁴a shiver of horror came over me;
it made all my bones tremble.
¹⁵Then a spirit passed in front of my face;
the hair of my flesh stood on end.
¹⁶It stood still,
but I couldn’t make out its appearance;
yet the form stayed there before my eyes.
Then I heard a subdued voice:
¹⁷‘Can a human be seen by God as righteous?
Can a mortal be pure before his maker?
¹⁸[God] doesn’t trust his own servants,
he finds fault even with his angels;
¹⁹much more those living in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust.
They are crushed more easily than a worm;
²⁰shattered between morning and evening;
they perish forever, and no one takes notice.
²¹Their cord within them is pulled up;
then they die, without ever gaining wisdom.’

5 “Call if you like, but will anyone answer?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
²For anger kills the fool,
and envy slays the silly.
³I watch as a fool establishes roots,
but I curse his home with sudden [destruction] —
⁴his children are far from help,
publicly humiliated, with no one to rescue;
⁵the hungry eat up his harvest,
taking it even from among thorns,
while the thirsty are panting,
eager to swallow his wealth.
⁶For misery does not come from the dust
or trouble spring from the ground.
⁷No, people are born for trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“If I were you, I would seek God;
I would make my plea to him.
⁹For God does great deeds beyond investigation,
wonders beyond all reckoning.
¹⁰He gives rain to the earth,
pours water down on the fields.
¹¹He raises the lowly on high
and lifts mourners to safety.
¹²He frustrates the schemes of the cunning,
so that they achieve no success;
¹³trapping the crafty in their own tricks
and foiling quickly the plans of the false.
¹⁴They meet with darkness during the day,
groping at noon like at night.
¹⁵But he saves the poor from the sword, their mouth,
and from the clutches of the strong;
¹⁶so the poor can hope again;
and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷“How happy the person whom God corrects!
So don’t despise Shaddai’s discipline.
¹⁸For he wounds, but he bandages the sore;
his hands may strike, but they also heal.
¹⁹He will rescue you from six disasters;
yes, in seven no harm will touch you.
²⁰In famine, he will save you from death,
and in war, from the power of the sword.
²¹You will be shielded from the lash of the tongue,
and you won’t have to fear destruction when it comes —
²²you’ll be able to laugh at destruction and famine.
Also you won’t have to fear wild animals,
²³for you will be in league with the stones in the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
²⁴You will know that your tent is safe;
you will look round your home and miss nothing.
²⁵You will know that your descendants are many,
your offspring like grass [growing thick] in the fields.
²⁶You will come to your grave at a ripe old age,
like a pile of grain that arrives in season.