Job 5:2

For ¹  wrath kills the foolish person, ²  and anger ³  slays the silly one.

Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

"For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple.

Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.

The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him, the jealous anger of a simpleton does her in.

For wrath is the cause of death to the foolish, and he who has no wisdom comes to his end through passion.

Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.

For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one.

For ¹  wrath kills the foolish person, ²  and anger ³  slays the silly one.

¹ tn One of the reasons that commentators transpose v. 1 is that the כִּי (ki, “for”) here seems to follow 4:21 better. If people die without wisdom, it is folly that kills them. But the verse also makes sense after 5:1. He is saying that complaining against God will not bring deliverance (v. 1), but rather, by such impatience the fool will bring greater calamity on himself.

² tn The two words for “foolish person” are common in wisdom literature. The first, אֱוִיל (’evil), is the fool who is a senseless person; the פֹּתֶה (poteh) is the naive and silly person, the simpleton, the one who is easily led astray. The direct object is introduced with the preposition ל (lamed) in this verse (see GKC 366 §117.n).

³ tn The two parallel nouns are similar; their related verbs are also paralleled in Deut 32:16 with the idea of “vex” and “irritate.” The first word כַּעַשׂ (ka’as) refers to the inner irritation and anger one feels, whereas the second word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) refers to the outward expression of the anger. In Job 6:2, Job will respond “O that my impatience [ka’as] were weighed….”