Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job.
Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —
2 “Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond?
If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?
3 You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.
Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:
4 Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.
Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.
5 But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.
But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.
6 Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?
Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?
7 Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.
8 From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!
So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:
9 A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out.
By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:
10 Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break.
[Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:
11 Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.
The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.
12 A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.
But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:
13 Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.
When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,
14 I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.
Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:
15 Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.
Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
16 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:
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 ‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?
Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?
18 If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,
Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:
19 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?
How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:
20 Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.
Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:
21 They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’
Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!
