Job

5 Call, I pray thee—is there one to answer thee? Or to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

2 For to the foolish man death is caused by vexation, And the simple one is slain by jealousy.

3 I have seen the foolish taking root, And then hath his home decayed in a moment:

4 His children are far removed from safety, And they are crushed in the gate and there is none to deliver:

5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up And even out of thorn hedges he taketh it, And the snare gapeth for their substance.

6 For sorrow cometh not forth out of the dust,—Nor out of the ground sprouteth trouble.

7 Though man to trouble were born, As sparks on high do soar

8 Yet indeed I would seek unto El, And unto Elohim would I set forth my cause:—

9 Who doeth great things beyond all search,—Wondrous things till they cannot be recounted;

10 Who giveth rain upon the face of the earth, And sendeth forth waters over the face of the open fields;

11 Setting the lowly on high, And mourners are uplifted to safety;

12 Who doth frustrate the schemes of the crafty, That their hands cannot achieve abiding success;

13 Who captureth the wise in their own craftiness, Yea the headlong counsel of the crooked:

14 By day they encounter darkness, And as though it were night they grope at high noon.

15 But he saveth from the sword out of their mouth, And out of the hand of the strong the needy.

16 Thus to the poor hath come hope, And perversity hath shut her mouth.

17 Lo! how happy is the man whom God correcteth! Therefore the chastening of the Almighty do not thou refuse;

18 For he woundeth that he may bind up, He smiteth through that his own hands may heal.

19 In six troubles he will rescue thee, And in seven there shall smite thee no misfortune:

20 In famine he will ransom thee from death, And in battle from the power of the sword;

21 During the scourge of the tongue shalt thou be hid, Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh;

22 At destruction and at hunger shalt thou laugh, And of the wild beast of the earth be not thou afraid;

23 For with the stones of the field shall be thy covenant, And the wild beast of the field hath been made thy friend;

24 And thou shalt know that at peace is thy tent, And shalt visit thy fold and miss nothing;

25 And thou shalt know that numerous is thy seed, And thine offspring like the young shoots of the field.

26 Thou shalt come yet robust to the grave, As a stack of sheaves mounteth up in its season.

27 Lo! as for this we have searched it out—so it is, Hear it and know thou for thyself.