Eliphaz: Job is chastened by God
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“Job, no one will stop you from calling out for someone to help you, but I am certain that no angel will come to you!
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Foolish people die because they are resentful; people whom others easily deceive, these people die because they envy others.
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I have seen foolish people who seemed to be successful, but suddenly they experienced disaster because I cursed their home.
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Their sons are never safe; they always lose to their opponents in court, because there is no one to defend them.
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Hungry people steal the crops that foolish people harvest; they even steal the crops that grow among thorns, and greedy people take away the wealth of those foolish people.
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But it is not the farmland that makes bad things happen; troubles do not grow up from the ground like plants.
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People make trouble for themselves from the time that they are born; this is as certain as the fact that sparks shoot up from a fire.
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If I were suffering like you are, I would ask God for help and tell him what I am complaining about.
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He does great things, things that we cannot understand; we cannot even count the marvelous things that he does.
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He sends rain on the ground; he makes it rain on our fields.
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He defends those who are humble, and puts those who mourn into places where they are safe.
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He causes crafty people to not be able to do what they plan to do, with the result that they achieve nothing.
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The people who think they are wise, he makes their own traps catch them; the result is that they do not succeed.
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It is as though even in the daytime they were living in darkness and were groping around trying to find the road at noontime like people do at night.
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But God saves helpless people from the wicked who say evil things about them; he saves poor people from powerful people harming them.
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So poor people confidently expect that good things will happen to them; but God stops wicked people from saying evil things.
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But those whom God corrects are fortunate; so do not despise it when God, who can do anything, disciplines you.
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He wounds people, but then he puts bandages on those wounds; he hurts people, but he also heals them.
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He will rescue you many times from your troubles, with the result that nothing evil will happen to you.
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When there is little food to eat, he will not allow you to die, and when there is a war, your enemies will not kill you.
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God will protect you when people say false, evil things about you; you will not be afraid when many things around you perish.
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You will be able to laugh when that happens and when there is nothing to eat, and you will not be afraid of wild animals.
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You will not worry about having big rocks in your fields that will make plowing difficult, and you will not worry that wild animals might attack you.
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You will know that things will go well for you in your home; when you look at your livestock, you will see that they are all there.
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You will be certain that you will have many descendants, who will be as numerous as blades of grass.
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You will become very old before you die, like sheaves of grain continue to grow until it is time to harvest and thresh them.
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My friends and I have thought carefully about these things, and we know that they are true, so pay attention to what I have said!”
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