Eliphaz Continues
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 dwelling.
4 His children are far from safety.
They are crushed in the gate.
Nor is there any to deliver them.
5 The hungry eats up his harvest,
and even takes it out of the thorns.
And the thirsty pants for their wealth.
6 For affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble spring from 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 He does great things that cannot be fathomed,
marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields.
11 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 cannot achieve success.
13 He traps the “wise” in their own craftiness,
and the counsel of the cunning comes quickly to an end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves the needy
from the sword of their mouth,
the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts her mouth.
17 Happy is the man whom God corrects.
Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, and he binds up.
He injures, and his hands make whole.
19 He will deliver you in six troubles.
Indeed, in seven no evil will touch you.
20 In famine he will redeem you from death
and in war, from the power of the sword.
21 You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and you will not 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 like 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 Look at this. We have searched it. It is so.
Hear it, and know it for your good.”