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 eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance. 6 For affliction doesn't come forth from 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 devices 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 shall touch you. 20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword. 21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth. 23 For you shall be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you. 24 You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing. 25 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season. 27 Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good."
Eliphaz proceeds to show that the wicked are always punished by the justice of God, though they may appear to flourish for a time, Job 5:1-8; extols the providence of God, by which the counsels of the wicked are brought to naught, and the poor fed and supported, Job 5:9-16; shows the blessedness of being corrected by God, in the excellent fruits that result from it; and exhorts Job to patience and submission, with the promise of all secular prosperity, and a happy death in a mature and comfortable old age, Job 5:17-27.
INTRODUCTION TO JOB 5
In this chapter Eliphaz goes on to prove, and further confirm and establish, what he had before asserted, that not good men, but wicked men only, are afflicted of God, at least greatly, so as to have their substance wholly destroyed and perish, which was Job's case; and this partly from the case, state, and sentiments of all the saints, Job 5:1; and from his own observation and experience, Job 5:3; and then he proceeds to give some advice; and seeing afflictions do not come by chance, but are of God, it is right in such circumstances for a man to seek to the Lord for pardon and salvation, and commit his cause unto him, Job 5:6; who does many great things in a providential way to the good of man in general, and to the disappointment of wicked crafty men, and to the serving of the poor in particular, Job 5:9; so that it is best patiently to bear the afflicting hand of God, and it is an happiness to be corrected by him, since he delivers such out of all their troubles, and preserves them from many evils, and bestows many good things on them; which would be Job's case particularly, if he behaved according to the advice given, and which is left with him to consider of, Job 5:17.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.