Iyov, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} Then Elifaz the Temanite answered,
{4:2} "If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
{4:3} Behold, you have instructed many,
You have strengthened the weak hands.
{4:4} Your words have supported him who was falling,
You have made firm the feeble knees.
{4:5} But now it is come to you, and you faint;
It touches you, and you are troubled.
{4:6} Isn't your piety your confidence,
The integrity of your ways your hope?
{4:7} "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
{4:8} According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity,
And sow trouble,
Reap the same.
{4:9} By the breath of God they perish,
By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
{4:10} The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,
The teeth of the young lions, are broken.
{4:11} The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
The whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
{4:12} "Now a thing was secretly brought to me,
My ear received a whisper of it.
{4:13} In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
{4:14} Fear came on me, and trembling,
Which made all my bones shake.
{4:15} Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair of my flesh stood up.
{4:16} It stood still, but I couldn't discern the appearance of it;
A form was before my eyes.
Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
{4:17} 'Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
{4:18} Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.
He charges his angels with error.
{4:19} How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed before the moth!
{4:20} Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
{4:21} Isn't their tent-cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.'
{5:1} "Call now; is there any who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
{5:2} For resentment kills the foolish man,
And jealousy kills the simple.
{5:3} I have seen the foolish taking root,
But suddenly I cursed his habitation.
{5:4} His children are far from safety,
They are crushed in the gate.
Neither is there any to deliver them,
{5:5} Whose harvest the hungry eats up,
And take it even out of the thorns;
The snare gapes for their substance.
{5:6} For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust,
Neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
{5:7} But man is born to trouble,
As the sparks fly upward.
{5:8} "But as for me, I would seek God,
To God would I commit my cause;
{5:9} Who does great things that can't be fathomed,
Marvelous things without number;
{5:10} Who gives rain on the [1>]eretz[<1],
And sends waters on the fields;
{5:11} So that he sets up on high those who are low,
Those who mourn are exalted to safety.
{5:12} He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.
{5:13} He takes the wise in their own craftiness;
The counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
{5:14} They meet with darkness in the day-time,
And grope at noonday as in the night.
{5:15} But he saves from the sword of their mouth,
Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
{5:16} So the poor has hope,
And injustice shuts her mouth.
{5:17} "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects:
Therefore do not despise the chastening of [2>]Shaddai[<2].
{5:18} For he wounds, and binds up;
He injures, and his hands make whole.
{5:19} He will deliver you in six troubles;
Yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you.
{5:20} In famine he will redeem you from death;
In war, from the power of the sword.
{5:21} You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
Neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
{5:22} At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
Neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the [3>]eretz[<3].
{5:23} For you shall be in league with the stones of the field.
The animals of the field shall be at shalom with you.
{5:24} You shall know that your tent is in shalom.
You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.
{5:25} You shall know also that your seed shall be great,
Your offspring as the grass of the [4>]eretz[<4].
{5:26} You shall come to your grave in a full age,
Like a shock of grain comes in its season.
{5:27} Look this, we have searched it, so it is;
Hear it, and know it for your good."
{6:1} Then Iyov answered,
{6:2} "Oh that my anguish were weighed,
And all my calamity laid in the balances!
{6:3} For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,
Therefore have my words been rash.
{6:4} For the arrows of [1>]Shaddai[<1] are within me,
My spirit drinks up their poison.
The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
{6:5} Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
{6:6} Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
{6:7} My soul refuses to touch them;
They are as loathsome food to me.
{6:8} "Oh that I might have my request;
That God would grant the thing that I long for!
{6:9} Even that it would please God to crush me;
That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
{6:10} Be it still my consolation,
Yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare,
That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
{6:11} What is my strength, that I should wait?
What is my end, that I should be patient?
{6:12} Is my strength the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh of brass?
{6:13} Isn't it that I have no help in me,
That wisdom is driven quite from me?
{6:14} "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from
his friend;
Even to him who forsakes the fear of [2>]Shaddai[<2].
{6:15} My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
As the channel of brooks that pass away;
{6:16} Which are black by reason of the ice,
in which the snow hides itself:
{6:17} In the dry season, they vanish.
When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
{6:18} The caravans that travel beside them turn aside;
They go up into the waste, and perish.
{6:19} The caravans of Tema looked,
The companies of Sheva waited for them.
{6:20} They were put to shame because they had hoped;
They came there, and were confounded.
{6:21} For now you are nothing.
You see a terror, and are afraid.
{6:22} Did I say, 'Give to me?'
Or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'
{6:23} Or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?'
Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'
{6:24} "Teach me, and I will hold my shalom;
Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
{6:25} How forcible are words of uprightness!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
{6:26} Do you intend to reprove words,
Seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
{6:27} Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,
And make merchandise of your friend.
{6:28} Now therefore be pleased to look at me,
For surely I shall not lie to your face.
{6:29} Please return. Let there be no injustice;
Yes, return again, my cause is righteous.
{6:30} Is there injustice on my tongue?
Can't my taste discern mischievous things?
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Footnotes:
[1] {5:10} earth
[2] {5:17} the Almighty
[3] {5:22} earth
[4] {5:25} earth
[1] {6:4} the Almighty
[2] {6:14} the Almighty
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