Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
And Eliphaz the Temanite answers and says:
2 Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
“Has one tried a word with you? You are weary! And who is able to keep in words?
3 For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Behold, you have instructed many, And feeble hands you make strong.
4 and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
Your words raise up the stumbling one, And you strengthen bowing knees.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
But now, it comes to you, And you are weary; It strikes to you, and you are troubled.
6 Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
Is your reverence not your confidence? Your hope—the perfection of your ways?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Now remember, Who, being innocent, has perished? And where have the upright been cut off?
8 Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
As I have seen—plowers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger [are] consumed.
10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken.
11 The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness separate.
12 But if there had been any truth in your words, none of these evils would have befallen you. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?
And a thing is secretly brought to me, And my ear receives a little of it.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men,
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
Fear has met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
And a spirit passes before my face, The hair of my flesh stands 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 stands, and I do not discern its aspect, A likeness [is] before my eyes, Silence! And I hear a voice:
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
Is mortal man more righteous than God? Is a man cleaner than his Maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
Behold, He puts no credence in His servants, Nor sets praise in His messengers.
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.
Also—the inhabitants of houses of clay (Whose foundation [is] in the dust, They bruise them before a moth).
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, they perish forever.
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Has their excellence not been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!”
