Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?
[If] we essay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can refrain from speaking?
3 For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4 and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.
Thy words have upheld him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.
But now it hath come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way?
[Is] not [this] thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off;
8 Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, 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.
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 has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
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?
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a small sound of it.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men.
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood 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 discern its form: an image [was] before my eyes, [there was] silence, and I heard a voice, [saying],
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? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
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 less [in] them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation [is] in the dust, [who] are crushed before the moth?
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding [it].
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Doth not their excellence [which is] in them depart? they die, even without wisdom.
