Job 5:20-6:23

20In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

21You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.

22You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the wild animals.

23For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

24You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.

25You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

26You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season. 27“We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Job 1Then Job replied:

2“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!

3It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas— no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

5Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

6Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. ?

7I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.

8“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,

9that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

10Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain— that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

11“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?

12Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?

13Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?

14“Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

15But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow

16when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,

17but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.

18Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish.

19The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

20They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

21Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.

22Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

23deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?