Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and sayde,
Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,
2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieued? but who can withholde himselfe from speaking?
“Will you please let me say something to you? I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent [any longer].
3 Behold, thou hast taught many, and hast strengthened the wearie hands.
In the past, you have instructed/taught many people, and you have encouraged those who were weak.
4 Thy wordes haue confirmed him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the weake knees.
By what you said, you have helped those who (needed spiritual help/almost quit trusting in God) [MET], and you have enabled them to become spiritually strong again [MET].
5 But now it is come vpon thee, and thou art grieued: it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged. The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.
6 Is not this thy feare, thy confidence, thy pacience, and the vprightnesse of thy wayes?
You revere God; (does that not cause you to trust [in him]?/that should cause you to trust [in him].) [RHQ] If you were guiltless, you would [RHQ] be confident that [God] would not [have allowed] these disasters [to] happen to you!
7 Remember, I pray thee: who euer perished, being an innocent? or where were the vpright destroyed?
Think about this: Do innocent people die [while they are still young] [RHQ]? Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? [No!]
8 As I haue seene, they that plow iniquitie, and sowe wickednesse, reape the same.
What I have experienced is this: [Just as] [MET] farmers who plant bad [seeds] do not harvest good [crops], [just as those who start] trouble for others, later bring trouble on themselves.
9 With the blast of God they perish, and with the breath of his nostrels are they cosumed.
They die when God angrily blows his breath on them, when he is very angry with them.
10 The roaring of the Lion, and the voyce of the Lionesse, and the teeth of the Lions whelpes are broken.
[Even though wicked people may be very powerful like] young lions, [God] will get rid of them [MET].
11 The Lyon perisheth for lacke of pray, and the Lyons whelpes are scattered abroade.
[They will die like] fierce lions [that] starve to death when there are no animals that they can kill and eat, and [their children will be separated from each other like] young lions separate from each other [to find food].”
12 But a thing was brought to me secretly, and mine eare hath receiued a litle thereof.
“I heard a message that someone came and whispered to me.
13 In the thoughtes of ye visions of the night, when sleepe falleth on men,
He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me while I was fast asleep.
14 Feare came vpon me, and dread which made all my bones to tremble.
It caused me to be afraid and tremble; it caused all my bones to shake.
15 And the wind passed before me, and made the heares of my flesh to stande vp.
A ghost glided past my face and caused the hair on [on the back of] my neck to stand straight up.
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 stopped, but I could not see what form it had. But [I could sense that] there was some being in front of me, and it said in a quiet voice,
17 Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be more pure then his maker?
‘(Does God consider anyone to be righteous?/No human beings can be righteous in God’s sight!) [RHQ] (Their creator cannot consider them to be pure./Can their creator consider them to be pure?) [RHQ]
18 Beholde, he founde no stedfastnesse in his Seruants, and laid follie vpon his Angels.
God cannot be sure that his own angels [will always do what is right]; he declares that some of them have done what is wrong.
19 Howe much more in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which shalbe destroyed before the moth?
So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay, who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!
20 They be destroyed from the morning vnto the euening: they perish for euer, without regarde.
People are sometimes well in the morning, but in the evening they are dead. They are gone forever and do not even know it (OR, and no one pays any attention to it).
21 Doeth not their dignitie goe away with them? do they not die, and that without wisdom?
They are like [MET] tents that collapse [suddenly]: They die [suddenly] before they become wise.’”
