< 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] we essay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can refrain from speaking?
3 You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.
Thy words have upheld him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
5 But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.
But now it hath come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?
[Is] not [this] thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
7 Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off;
8 From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, 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.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
12 A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a small sound of it.
13 Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men.
14 I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15 Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.
Then a spirit passed before my face; 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:
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 ‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with 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 less [in] them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation [is] in the dust, [who] are crushed before the moth?
20 Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding [it].
21 They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’
Doth not their excellence [which is] in them depart? they die, even without wisdom.