Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job.
2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
“Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond?
3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.
4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.
5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.
6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?
8 On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!
9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:
Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break.
11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.
12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.
A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.
13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.
14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.
15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.
16 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:
Something stopped, but I couldn't see its face. My eyes could only make out a shape. It was totally quiet, and then I heard a voice:
17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?
18 Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,
19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
how much more does this apply to those who live in these houses made of clay, whose foundations are based on dust, who fall apart like clothing to a moth?
20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.
21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’
