[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. I would commit my cause to God, [5:9] who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number; [5:10] who gives rain on the earth, 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 the Almighty. [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 earth. [5:23] For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you. [5:24] You shall know that your tent is in peace. 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 earth. [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 Job 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 the Almighty 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 the Almighty. [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 Sheba waited for them. [6:20] They were distressed because they were confident. 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 peace. 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?

[7:1] "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand? [7:2] As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages, [7:3] so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me. [7:4] When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day. [7:5] My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh. [7:6] My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. [7:7] Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good. [7:8] The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be. [7:9] As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more. [7:10] He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. [7:11] "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. [7:12] Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me? [7:13] When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;' [7:14] then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions: [7:15] so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. [7:16] I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. [7:17] What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, [7:18] that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? [7:19] How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? [7:20] If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself? [7:21] Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

[8:1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

[8:2] "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? [8:3] Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? [8:4] If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. [8:5] If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. [8:6] If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. [8:7] Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. [8:8] "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. [8:9] (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) [8:10] Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? [8:11] "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? [8:12] While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. [8:13] So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish, [8:14] Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web. [8:15] He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure. [8:16] He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden. [8:17] His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. [8:18] If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.' [8:19] Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring. [8:20] "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evil-doers. [8:21] He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. [8:22] Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

[9:1] Then Job answered,

[9:2] "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God? [9:3] If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand. [9:4] God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered? [9:5] He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he overturns them in his anger. [9:6] He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble. [9:7] He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars. [9:8] He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea. [9:9] He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. [9:10] He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number. [9:11] Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't perceive him. [9:12] Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?' [9:13] "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. [9:14] How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him? [9:15] Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge. [9:16] If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice. [9:17] For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. [9:18] He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. [9:19] If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?' [9:20] Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse. [9:21] I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life. [9:22] "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. [9:23] If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. [9:24] The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? [9:25] "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good, [9:26] They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. [9:27] If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;' [9:28] I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent. [9:29] I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? [9:30] If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, [9:31] yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me. [9:32] For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. [9:33] There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. [9:34] Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; [9:35] then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

[10:1] "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. [10:2] I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me. [10:3] Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked? [10:4] Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees? [10:5] Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years, [10:6] that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? [10:7] Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand. [10:8] "'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me. [10:9] Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again? [10:10] Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? [10:11] You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. [10:12] You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit. [10:13] Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you: [10:14] if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity. [10:15] If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction. [10:16] If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me. [10:17] You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me. [10:18] "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. [10:19] I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. [10:20] Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, [10:21] before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; [10:22] the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.'"

[11:1] Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,