Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said,
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
If a man tries to converse with thee, will thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3 Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
Behold, thou have instructed many, and thou have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
Thy words have upheld him who was falling, and thou have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
But now it comes to thee, and thou faint. It touches thee, and thou are troubled.
6 Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?
Is not thy fear of God thy confidence, the integrity of thy ways thy hope?
7 Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
According as I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12 Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.
13 In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.
fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15 Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:
It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,
Behold, he puts no trust in his servants, and he charges his agents with folly.
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
21 Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.
