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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 5

Job 5: Eliphaz urges Job to seek God and accept correction

General context

Eliphaz continues the speech begun in chapter 4. He challenges Job to call and see whether anyone answers, and asks to which of the saints he will turn. He says wrath kills the foolish man and envy the silly one, and that he has seen the foolish take root and then cursed his habitation; the fool's children are crushed in the gate, and the hungry and the robber consume his harvest. Affliction does not come from the dust, he says, yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Eliphaz says that he would seek God and commit his cause to him, and describes God as doing great and unsearchable things: giving rain, setting the low on high, disappointing the crafty, taking the wise in their own craftiness, and saving the poor from the sword so that the poor have hope. He calls happy the man whom God corrects and tells Job not to despise the chastening of the Almighty, because God makes sore and binds up, wounds and makes whole. He promises deliverance in six troubles and seven, in famine and war, hiding from the scourge of the tongue, no fear of beasts, a league with the stones of the field, peace in Job's dwelling, seed as the grass of the earth, and a grave reached in a full age like a shock of corn in its season. He closes by saying they have searched this and it is so, and Job should know it for his good.

Cited passages: Job 5:1, Job 5:2, Job 5:3, Job 5:4, Job 5:5, Job 5:6, Job 5:7, Job 5:8, Job 5:9, Job 5:10, Job 5:11, Job 5:12, Job 5:13, Job 5:15, Job 5:16, Job 5:17, Job 5:18, Job 5:19, Job 5:20, Job 5:21, Job 5:22, Job 5:23, Job 5:24, Job 5:25, Job 5:26, Job 5:27

Job 5 (KJV)

1Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

2For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

3I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

4His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

6Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

7Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

8I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

9Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

10Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

11To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

12He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

13He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

14They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

15But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

16So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

17Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

18For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

19He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

20In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

21Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

22At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

23For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

24And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

25Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

26Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

27Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter has no narrator's line. It continues Eliphaz's speech, which began at 4.1 and ends with Lo this, we have searched it in verse 27, before Job answers at 6.1. Every claim is Eliphaz's: the fate of the fool's children, the working of God against the crafty, and the list of blessings promised to Job if he seeks God. The promise of seed as the grass of the earth is spoken to a man whose sons and daughters died in 1.19; the text does not say whether Eliphaz has that loss in mind. We have searched it claims a shared finding, but Bildad and Zophar have not yet spoken. The saints of verse 1 are not identified further. Eliphaz's picture of the fool's children crushed in the gate is introduced by I have seen, so it is his observation, and the narrator does not endorse it. Nothing in the chapter refers to the heavenly scenes of chapters 1 and 2.

Cited passages: Job 4:1, Job 5:27, Job 6:1, Job 5:4, Job 5:25, Job 1:19, Job 5:1, Job 5:3

Literary context

The chapter moves from warning to hymn to promise. It starts with a challenge, Call now, and a proverb about wrath and envy, then a proverb about trouble being native to man, as the sparks fly upward. The middle section is a chain of clauses about God, Which doeth great things, Who giveth rain, and the reversals it lists, low set high, wise caught, poor saved, prepare the beatitude of verse 17. The pairing he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole gives Eliphaz's account of suffering as correction. The counted promise, six troubles: yea, in seven, and the harvest image, a shock of corn cometh in in his season, close the speech on security. Job in chapter 3 longed for the grave; Eliphaz answers with a grave reached in a full age. The final verse, hear it, and know thou it for thy good, frames the whole as advice Job is expected to accept.

Cited passages: Job 5:1, Job 5:2, Job 5:7, Job 5:9, Job 5:10, Job 5:11, Job 5:13, Job 5:15, Job 5:17, Job 5:18, Job 5:19, Job 5:26, Job 3:21, Job 5:27

Key moments

  1. Call now (Job 5:1). Eliphaz challenges Job to call and see who answers.
  2. Born to trouble (Job 5:7). Eliphaz says man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward.
  3. I would seek unto God (Job 5:8). Eliphaz says he would commit his cause to God.
  4. Happy is the man God corrects (Job 5:17). Eliphaz calls happy the man whom God corrects.
  5. Wounds and healing (Job 5:18). Eliphaz says God wounds and his hands make whole.
  6. Seed as the grass (Job 5:25). Eliphaz promises Job many descendants.
  7. We have searched it (Job 5:27). Eliphaz says they have searched this and Job should know it for his good.

For reflection

Eliphaz promises that if Job seeks God his seed will be great and he will die in a full age. Read against 1.19, is this promise a comfort, an oversight, or something the text leaves the reader to weigh?