Job 5
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
Resentment Slays the Fool[a]
1 “Call out now if you so wish.
Is there anyone who will reply?
To which of the holy ones[b] will you turn?
2 Resentment slays the fool,
and envy brings death to the simpleton.
3 I have seen a fool enjoy success for a time,
but suddenly his house was cursed.
4 “His children are cut off from safety,
slaughtered at the gate[c] without a defender.
5 The hungry devour their harvest,
even that growing amid the thorns,[d]
and the thirsty pant for their wealth.
6 For misery does not grow out of the earth,
nor does trouble spring from the soil.
7 Rather, man breeds trouble for himself,
as surely as sparks[e] fly upward.
I Would Appeal to God[f]
8 “If I were you, I would appeal to God
and present my case before him.
9 He performs deeds that are beyond understanding,
and wonders that cannot be counted.
10 He provides rain for the earth
and sends down water upon the fields.
11 He raises on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn he lifts to safety.
12 “He thwarts the schemes of the crafty
so that they do not achieve any success.
13 He traps the cunning in their intrigues
and throws their plans into disarray.
14 They encounter darkness in the daytime
and grope their way at noon as if it were night.
15 But he saves the destitute from the sword
and rescues them from the hand of the mighty.
16 Therefore, the poor once again have hope,
and iniquity must shut its mouth.
Blessed Is the Man Whom God Reproves[g]
17 “Blessed is the man whom God[h] reproves.
Therefore, do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For even though he wounds, he also binds up;
he smites, but his hands also heal.
19 He will deliver you from trouble six times,
and on the seventh[i] no evil will touch you.
20 In time of famine he will rescue you from death,
and in wartime from the thrust of the sword.
21 “You will be shielded from the scourge of the tongue,
and you will not fear calamity when it looms.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine
and not be terrified by the beasts of the earth.
23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field
and live in peace with wild animals.
24 You will know that your tent is secure,
and your household will be intact when you inspect it.
25 “You will know that your descendants will be numerous,
and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You will go to the grave at a ripe old age,
like sheaves gathered at the right time.
27 All this we have researched, and it is true.
Heed it, and apply it to yourself.”
Footnotes
- Job 5:1 In time of trial, prayer is of no avail if it expresses obstinacy and vexation. Man is the cause of his own unhappiness.
- Job 5:1 The holy ones: after the Exile, this referred to the heavenly spirits (see Job 15:15; Dan 4:10, 14, 20; 8:13; Zec 14:5). They were beginning to be regarded as powerful intercessors with God (see Job 33:23-24; Zec 1:12).
- Job 5:4 At the gate: the place of the city where normal business was conducted and justice was administered.
- Job 5:5 Even . . . thorns: an alternative reading is: “God snatches it out of their mouths.”
- Job 5:7 Sparks: literally, “sons of Resheph.” Resheph was a god of the Canaanites whose name came to be used in the Old Testament as a symbol of fire (Song 8:6), lightning bolts (Ps 78:48), and pestilence (Deut 32:24; Hab 3:5).
- Job 5:8 Like an announcement of the Magnificat (Lk 1:49-53), this poem sings of the power and goodness of God. Eliphaz here presents a remarkable conception of prayer while excluding all discussion of human beings with God.
- Job 5:17 The traditional teaching on trials loves to describe the new earthly happiness that is in store for the faithful.
- Job 5:17 God: the Hebrew text has Shaddai, which means “the powerful one” or, literally, “God of the mountains.” It was a name given to God in the time of the Patriarchs (see Gen 17:1; 35:11; 48:3; Ex 6:3). The author uses this archaic name in order to situate Job in a distant past.
- Job 5:19 Six times . . . on the seventh: a literary device for indicating a very large number or even a totality (see Prov 6:16f; 30:15f; Am 1:3-13).
Job 5
Jubilee Bible 2000
5 ¶ Call now, if there shall be anyone to answer thee; and if there shall be any of the saints for thee to look unto?
2 It is certain that wrath kills the foolish man, and envy consumes the covetous one.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but at the same time I cursed his habitation.
4 His sons are far from saving health, and they shall be crushed in the gate, and there shall be no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry shall eat up his harvest, and even take it out from among the thorns, and the thirsty shall drink up their substance.
6 ¶ For the iniquity does not come forth out of the dust; neither does chastisement spring up out of the ground;
7 yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8 I would certainly seek God, and unto God would I commit my affairs;
9 who does great things that no one can understand, and marvels that have no explanation;
10 who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters abroad;
11 who sets up the humble on high, that those who mourn may be lifted up with saving health.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13 He takes the wise in their own prudence, and the counsel of his adversaries is turned to folly.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves the poor from the sword, from the mouth of the wicked, and from the hand of the violent.
16 Who is the hope of the poor, and iniquity closes her mouth.
17 ¶ Behold, blessed is the man whom God chastens; therefore, do not despise not the correction of the Almighty.
18 For he makes sore, and binds up; he wounds, and his hands make whole.
19 He shall deliver thee in six tribulations, and in the seventh no evil shall touch thee.
20 In famine he shall ransom thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth;
23 for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
24 And thou shalt know that there is peace in thy tent, and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin.
25 Thou shalt know that thy seed is great and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of wheat that is gathered in its season.
27 Behold that which we have searched out, so it is; hear it and judge it for thyself.
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