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5. Eliphaz Speaks

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 I were you, 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 provides rain for the earth;
   he sends water on 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 one whom God corrects;
   so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Hebrew Shaddai; here and throughout Job
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 touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will deliver 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 wild animals.
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.”