< Job 4 >

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and sayde,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieued? but who can withholde himselfe from speaking?
“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, thou hast taught many, and hast strengthened the wearie hands.
Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
4 Thy wordes haue confirmed him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the weake knees.
Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
5 But now it is come vpon thee, and thou art grieued: it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not this thy feare, thy confidence, thy pacience, and the vprightnesse of thy wayes?
Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?
7 Remember, I pray thee: who euer perished, being an innocent? or where were the vpright destroyed?
Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
8 As I haue seene, they that plow iniquitie, and sowe wickednesse, reape the same.
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
9 With the blast of God they perish, and with the breath of his nostrels are they cosumed.
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
10 The roaring of the Lion, and the voyce of the Lionesse, and the teeth of the Lions whelpes are broken.
The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The Lyon perisheth for lacke of pray, and the Lyons whelpes are scattered abroade.
The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 But a thing was brought to me secretly, and mine eare hath receiued a litle thereof.
Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.
13 In the thoughtes of ye visions of the night, when sleepe falleth on men,
In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 Feare came vpon me, and dread which made all my bones to tremble.
fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.
15 And the wind passed before me, and made the heares of my flesh to stande vp.
Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
16 Then stoode one, and I knewe not his face: an image was before mine eyes, and in silence heard I a voyce, saying,
It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:
17 Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be more pure then his maker?
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
18 Beholde, he founde no stedfastnesse in his Seruants, and laid follie vpon his Angels.
If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,
19 Howe much more in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which shalbe destroyed before the moth?
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
20 They be destroyed from the morning vnto the euening: they perish for euer, without regarde.
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
21 Doeth not their dignitie goe away with them? do they not die, and that without wisdom?
Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’

< Job 4 >