Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —
2 Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?
If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?
3 For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:
4 and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.
Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.
But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.
6 Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way?
Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.
8 Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:
10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
[Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:
11 The old lion has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.
12 But if there had been any truth in thy words, none of these evils would have befallen thee. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?
But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
16 I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there, was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying],
It stood still, but I could not distinguish its appearance, I looked, but there was no form before mine eyes, —A whispering voice, I heard: —
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:
19 But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth.
How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.
Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!
