WEB

Job 5

Eliphaz finishes his first speech, sliding from accusation toward advice. He warns that resentment kills the fool, claims he has watched a fool's house cursed, and lays down a maxim: "man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." His counsel is for Job to take his cause to God. The second half is a hymn to God's power, lifting the lowly, frustrating the crafty, and a string of promises: rescue in famine, war, and from the scourge of the tongue, ending in a peaceful old age.

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Parallel reading:Off Español (LatAm)Português (Brasil)Português (Portugal)

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Job 5 (WEB)

1
“Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2
For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
3
I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4
His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
5
whose harvest the hungry eat up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
6
For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;
7
but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8
“But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
9
who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
10
who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
11
so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
12
He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
13
He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14
They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
15
But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16
So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
17
“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18
For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole.
19
He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
20
In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.
21
You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22
You will laugh at destruction and famine, neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
23
For you will be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you.
24
You will know that your tent is in peace. You will visit your fold, and will miss nothing.
25
You will know also that your offspring will be great, your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26
You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
27
Behold, we have researched it. It is so. Hear it, and know it for your good.”

Job 5 (RV1909)

1
AHORA pues da voces, si habrá quien te responda; ¿y á cuál de los santos te volverás?
2
Es cierto que al necio la ira lo mata, y al codicioso consume la envidia.
3
Yo he visto al necio que echaba raíces, y en la misma hora maldije su habitación.
4
Sus hijos estarán lejos de la salud, y en la puerta serán quebrantados, y no habrá quien los libre.
5
Su mies comerán los hambrientos, y sacaránla de entre las espinas, y los sedientos beberán su hacienda.
6
Porque la iniquidad no sale del polvo, ni la molestia brota de la tierra.
7
Empero como las centellas se levantan para volar por el aire , así el hombre nace para la aflicción.
8
Ciertamente yo buscaría á Dios, y depositaría en él mis negocios:
9
El cual hace cosas grandes é inescrutables, y maravillas que no tienen cuento:
10
Que da la lluvia sobre la haz de la tierra, y envía las aguas por los campos:
11
Que pone los humildes en altura, y los enlutados son levantados á salud:
12
Que frustra los pensamientos de los astutos, para que sus manos no hagan nada:
13
Que prende á los sabios en la astucia de ellos, y el consejo de los perversos es entontecido;
14
De día se topan con tinieblas, y en mitad del día andan á tientas como de noche:
15
Y libra de la espada al pobre, de la boca de los impíos, y de la mano violenta;
16
Pues es esperanza al menesteroso, y la iniquidad cerrará su boca.
17
He aquí, bienaventurado es el hombre á quien Dios castiga: por tanto no menosprecies la corrección del Todopoderoso.
18
Porque él es el que hace la llaga, y él la vendará: él hiere, y sus manos curan.
19
En seis tribulaciones te librará, y en la séptima no te tocará el mal.
20
En el hambre te redimirá de la muerte, y en la guerra de las manos de la espada.
21
Del azote de la lengua serás encubierto; ni temerás de la destrucción cuando viniere.
22
De la destrucción y del hambre te reirás, y no temerás de las bestias del campo:
23
Pues aun con las piedras del campo tendrás tu concierto, y las bestias del campo te serán pacíficas.
24
Y sabrás que hay paz en tu tienda; y visitarás tu morada, y no pecarás.
25
Asimismo echarás de ver que tu simiente es mucha, y tu prole como la hierba de la tierra.
26
Y vendrás en la vejez á la sepultura, como el montón de trigo que se coge á su tiempo.
27
He aquí lo que hemos inquirido, lo cual es así: óyelo, y juzga tú para contigo.

Comfort with strings attached

Eliphaz urges Job not to despise "the chastening of the Almighty," because God wounds and binds up, injures and heals. The promises of verses 19 to 26 are genuinely beautiful, deliverance through six troubles, even seven.

But they rest on an unspoken condition: that Job repent of a sin he didn't commit. The closing line gives the speech away, "we have researched it, it is so", the voice of confident tradition speaking to a man the reader knows it has misjudged.