Job 5:6-16

The Message

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.

^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.