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Job 5-7
The Message
Job 5-7
The Message
Don’t Blame Fate When Things Go Wrong
5 1-7 “Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!
To which of the holy angels will you turn?
The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him,
the jealous anger of an idiot does her in.
I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots,
and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.
Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited,
with no one to stick up for them.
Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests,
cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all,
insatiable for everything they have.
Don’t blame fate when things go wrong—
trouble doesn’t come from nowhere.
It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble,
as certainly as sparks fly upward.
What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
8-16 “If I were in your shoes, I’d go straight to God,
I’d throw myself on the mercy of God.
After all, he’s famous for great and unexpected acts;
there’s no end to his surprises.
He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth,
sends water to irrigate the fields.
He raises up the down-and-out,
gives firm footing to those sinking in grief.
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks,
so that none of their plots come to term.
He catches the know-it-alls in their conspiracies—
all that intricate intrigue swept out with the trash!
Suddenly they’re disoriented, plunged into darkness;
they can’t see to put one foot in front of the other.
But the downtrodden are saved by God,
saved from the murderous plots, saved from the iron fist.
And so the poor continue to hope,
while injustice is bound and gagged.
17-19 “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God!
True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;
the same hand that hurts you, heals you.
From one disaster after another he delivers you;
no matter what the calamity, the evil can’t touch you—
20-26 “In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
and live fearless through any catastrophe.
You’ll shrug off disaster and famine,
and stroll fearlessly among wild animals.
You’ll be on good terms with rocks and mountains;
wild animals will become your good friends.
You’ll know that your place on earth is safe,
you’ll look over your goods and find nothing amiss.
You’ll see your children grow up,
your family lovely and graceful as orchard grass.
You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years,
like sheaves of golden grain at harvest.
27 “Yes, this is the way things are—my word of honor!
Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”
Job Replies to Eliphaz
God Has Dumped the Works on Me
6 1-7 Job answered:
“If my misery could be weighed,
if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales,
It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!
Is it any wonder that I’m howling like a caged cat?
The arrows of God Almighty are in me,
poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through!
God has dumped the whole works on me.
Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture—
so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this.
Do you see what God has dished out for me?
It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
Everything in me is repulsed by it—
it makes me sick.
Pressed Past the Limits
8-13 “All I want is an answer to one prayer,
a last request to be honored:
Let God step on me—squash me like a bug,
and be done with me for good.
I’d at least have the satisfaction
of not having blasphemed the Holy God,
before being pressed past the limits.
Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up?
What future do I have to keep me going?
Do you think I have nerves of steel?
Do you think I’m made of iron?
Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps?
Why, I don’t even have any boots!
My So-Called Friends
14-23 “When desperate people give up on God Almighty,
their friends, at least, should stick with them.
But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert—
one day they’re gushing with water
From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,
But by midsummer they’re dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.
Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.
Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.
They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!
And you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there’s nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It’s not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn’t ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?
24-27 “Confront me with the truth and I’ll shut up,
show me where I’ve gone off the track.
Honest words never hurt anyone,
but what’s the point of all this pious bluster?
You pretend to tell me what’s wrong with my life,
but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
28-30 “Look me in the eyes!
Do you think I’d lie to your face?
Think it over—no double-talk!
Think carefully—my integrity is on the line!
Can you detect anything false in what I say?
Don’t you trust me to discern good from evil?”
There’s Nothing to My Life
7 1-6 “Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?
It’s a life sentence to hard labor.
Like field hands longing for quitting time
and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,
I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—
months of aimlessness, nights of misery!
I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’
I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!
I’m covered with maggots and scabs.
My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with pus.
My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,
and then the yarn runs out—an unfinished life!
7-10 “God, don’t forget that I’m only a wisp of air!
These eyes have had their last look at goodness.
And your eyes have seen the last of me;
even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at.
When a cloud evaporates, it’s gone for good;
those who go to the grave never come back.
They don’t return to visit their families;
never again will friends drop in for coffee.
11-16 “And so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet,
I’m laying it all out on the table;
my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest.
Are you going to put a muzzle on me,
the way you quiet the sea and still the storm?
If I say, ‘I’m going to bed, then I’ll feel better.
A little nap will lift my spirits,’
You come and so scare me with nightmares
and frighten me with ghosts
That I’d rather strangle in the sheets
than face this kind of life any longer.
I hate this life! Who needs any more of this?
Let me alone! There’s nothing to my life—it’s nothing
but smoke.
17-21 “What are mortals anyway, that you bother with them,
that you even give them the time of day?
That you check up on them every morning,
looking in on them to see how they’re doing?
Let up on me, will you?
Can’t you even let me spit in peace?
Even suppose I’d sinned—how would that hurt you?
You’re responsible for every human being.
Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?
Why make a federal case out of me?
Why don’t you just forgive my sins
and start me off with a clean slate?
The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead.
You’ll look high and low, but I won’t be around.”
Job 5-7
New International Version
Job 5-7
New International Version
5 “Call if you will, but who will answer you?(A)
To which of the holy ones(B) will you turn?
2 Resentment(C) kills a fool,
and envy slays the simple.(D)
3 I myself have seen(E) a fool taking root,(F)
but suddenly(G) his house was cursed.(H)
4 His children(I) are far from safety,(J)
crushed in court(K) without a defender.(L)
5 The hungry consume his harvest,(M)
taking it even from among thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground.(N)
7 Yet man is born to trouble(O)
as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;
I would lay my cause before him.(P)
9 He performs wonders(Q) that cannot be fathomed,(R)
miracles that cannot be counted.(S)
10 He provides rain for the earth;(T)
he sends water on the countryside.(U)
11 The lowly he sets on high,(V)
and those who mourn(W) are lifted(X) to safety.
12 He thwarts the plans(Y) of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.(Z)
13 He catches the wise(AA) in their craftiness,(AB)
and the schemes of the wily are swept away.(AC)
14 Darkness(AD) comes upon them in the daytime;
at noon they grope as in the night.(AE)
15 He saves the needy(AF) from the sword in their mouth;
he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.(AG)
16 So the poor(AH) have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.(AI)
17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;(AJ)
so do not despise the discipline(AK) of the Almighty.[a](AL)
18 For he wounds, but he also binds up;(AM)
he injures, but his hands also heal.(AN)
19 From six calamities he will rescue(AO) you;
in seven no harm will touch you.(AP)
20 In famine(AQ) he will deliver you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.(AR)
21 You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,(AS)
and need not fear(AT) when destruction comes.(AU)
22 You will laugh(AV) at destruction and famine,(AW)
and need not fear the wild animals.(AX)
23 For you will have a covenant(AY) with the stones(AZ) of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.(BA)
24 You will know that your tent is secure;(BB)
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.(BC)
25 You will know that your children will be many,(BD)
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.(BE)
26 You will come to the grave in full vigor,(BF)
like sheaves gathered in season.(BG)
Job
6 Then Job replied:
2 “If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales!(BJ)
3 It would surely outweigh the sand(BK) of the seas—
no wonder my words have been impetuous.(BL)
4 The arrows(BM) of the Almighty(BN) are in me,(BO)
my spirit drinks(BP) in their poison;(BQ)
God’s terrors(BR) are marshaled against me.(BS)
5 Does a wild donkey(BT) bray(BU) when it has grass,
or an ox bellow when it has fodder?(BV)
6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow[b]?(BW)
7 I refuse to touch it;
such food makes me ill.(BX)
8 “Oh, that I might have my request,
that God would grant what I hope for,(BY)
9 that God would be willing to crush(BZ) me,
to let loose his hand and cut off my life!(CA)
10 Then I would still have this consolation(CB)—
my joy in unrelenting pain(CC)—
that I had not denied the words(CD) of the Holy One.(CE)
11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?(CF)
12 Do I have the strength of stone?
Is my flesh bronze?(CG)
13 Do I have any power to help myself,(CH)
now that success has been driven from me?
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend(CI)
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.(CJ)
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,(CK)
as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,(CL)
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
and in the heat(CM) vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;
they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema(CN) look for water,
the traveling merchants of Sheba(CO) look in hope.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;
they arrive there, only to be disappointed.(CP)
21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;
you see something dreadful and are afraid.(CQ)
22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,
pay a ransom(CR) for me from your wealth,(CS)
23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,
rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?(CT)
24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;(CU)
show me where I have been wrong.(CV)
25 How painful are honest words!(CW)
But what do your arguments prove?
26 Do you mean to correct what I say,
and treat my desperate words as wind?(CX)
27 You would even cast lots(CY) for the fatherless(CZ)
and barter away your friend.
28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.
Would I lie to your face?(DA)
29 Relent, do not be unjust;(DB)
reconsider, for my integrity(DC) is at stake.[c](DD)
30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?(DE)
Can my mouth not discern(DF) malice?
7 “Do not mortals have hard service(DG) on earth?(DH)
Are not their days like those of hired laborers?(DI)
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,(DJ)
or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,(DK)
3 so I have been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery have been assigned to me.(DL)
4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’(DM)
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.(DN)
5 My body is clothed with worms(DO) and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.(DP)
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,(DQ)
and they come to an end without hope.(DR)
7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;(DS)
my eyes will never see happiness again.(DT)
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.(DU)
9 As a cloud vanishes(DV) and is gone,
so one who goes down to the grave(DW) does not return.(DX)
10 He will never come to his house again;
his place(DY) will know him no more.(DZ)
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent;(EA)
I will speak out in the anguish(EB) of my spirit,
I will complain(EC) in the bitterness of my soul.(ED)
12 Am I the sea,(EE) or the monster of the deep,(EF)
that you put me under guard?(EG)
13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,(EH)
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify(EI) me with visions,(EJ)
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,(EK)
rather than this body of mine.(EL)
16 I despise my life;(EM) I would not live forever.(EN)
Let me alone;(EO) my days have no meaning.(EP)
17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,(EQ)
18 that you examine them every morning(ER)
and test them(ES) every moment?(ET)
19 Will you never look away from me,(EU)
or let me alone even for an instant?(EV)
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,(EW)
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?(EX)
Have I become a burden to you?[d](EY)
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?(EZ)
For I will soon lie down in the dust;(FA)
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”(FB)
Footnotes
- Job 5:17 Hebrew Shaddai; here and throughout Job
- Job 6:6 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- Job 6:29 Or my righteousness still stands
- Job 7:20 A few manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition and Septuagint; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text I have become a burden to myself.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.