Job 5

¹⁵If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

¹⁸If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

²²“Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

¹“Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment.

⁹Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

⁴You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

⁶A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

¹For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

¹⁸Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

⁷that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.

¹⁵‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

³⁵I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

³⁶yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

¹⁸They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards.

⁵Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.

¹⁶The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land.

¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.

⁷though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

⁹May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

¹⁰May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.

¹⁰The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹⁶All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

⁷For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.

¹¹Then the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

⁸The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.

⁷I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁹but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the Lord who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”

⁷For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.

²⁹But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

⁴They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

³⁸Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

¹“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

¹⁷And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁵As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.

¹⁶This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

⁸You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

⁹For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

²²For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

⁵Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will do it.

²¹Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

¹²And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

¹³And when he prayed to Him, the Lord received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

¹⁹So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

⁵Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

¹⁰He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.

¹⁰For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.

¹⁸Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

⁷Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

⁵God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend.

²⁴They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

¹⁷Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

⁸who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.

²²Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O Lord our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

⁹You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.

¹⁰You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth.

²⁶when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,

⁷He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

⁷The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

⁸He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s, and upon them He has set the world.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

⁴¹But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.

²⁴Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

¹⁰The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

¹¹Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.

¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.

¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

¹⁵The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

¹⁶The Lord is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah

¹⁵He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.

¹⁶His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.

⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

¹⁹For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

⁷For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁸May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.

²⁵They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

²⁹and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.

¹⁰Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

⁹And in that day, declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.

¹⁰All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O Lord, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

¹²I know that the Lord upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.

³¹For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

⁴May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

¹⁷You have heard, O Lord, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

¹⁴But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

⁴²The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth.

¹¹But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by Him will exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut.

⁸He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s, and upon them He has set the world.

⁹He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

⁷But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

¹⁸For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

¹¹My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke;

¹²for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹¹See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

¹Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

³⁹See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

³He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

²⁶The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the Lord binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

⁶The Lord brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

³Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.

⁴He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.

¹⁶For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.

⁹if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

¹⁹to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

⁷God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

¹⁹In the time of evil they will not be ashamed, and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.

⁶The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.

³The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but He denies the craving of the wicked.

²⁰You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues.

⁵You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon.

¹⁸Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁸Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

²¹His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

¹⁷No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

²⁵I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

⁹No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

¹³You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

⁶And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.

²²My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”

⁶The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.

⁷The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

¹²They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁷The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul.

⁸The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

¹⁰no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.

⁶if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

⁵Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,

⁶a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

⁶You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

²His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

¹⁶May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field.

⁴The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

⁵And the Lord took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

¹³And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.

⁴In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the Lord.

¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁷And so Job died, old and full of years.

¹¹For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

¹⁵You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.

²⁷The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

²Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage; but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.

¹¹Indeed, I waited while you spoke; I listened to your reasoning; as you searched for words,

¹²I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments.

¹³and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord that I am giving you this day for your own good?

³if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,

²“Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?