Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job.
2 Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
“Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond?
3 For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.
4 and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.
6 Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?
8 Accordingly as I have seen men plowing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out.
10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break.
11 The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.
12 But if there had been any truth in your words, none of these evils would have befallen you. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?
A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.
16 I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there, was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying],
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:
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,
19 But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth.
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?
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’
