Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job.
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 “Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond?
If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient? But who can stop himself from speaking?
3 You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.
See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.
Your words have supported him who was falling; you have made feeble knees firm.
5 But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.
But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are troubled.
6 Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?
Is not your fear your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?
Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent? Or when were the upright people ever cut off?
8 From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!
According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap it.
9 A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out.
By the breath of God they perish; by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break.
The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.
11 Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.
The old lion perishes for lack of victims; the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.
12 A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.
Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper about it.
13 Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.
Then came thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on people.
14 I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.
It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me, and all my bones shook.
15 Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.
Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair of my flesh stood 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:
The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,
17 ‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?
“Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,
See, if God puts no trust in his servants; if he accuses his angels of folly,
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 is this true of those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed sooner than a moth?
20 Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without anyone noticing them.
21 They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’
Are not their tent cords plucked up among them? They die; they die without wisdom.
