Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
2 Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
If we essay to address a word to thee, wilt thou be wearied? yet who is able to refrain from speaking?
3 For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
Behold, thou hast [ere this] corrected many, and weak hands thou wast wont to strengthen.
4 and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
Him that stumbled thy words used to uphold, and to sinking knees thou gavest vigor.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
Yet now, when it cometh to thee, thou art wearied: it toucheth even thee, and thou art terrified.
6 Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
Is not then thy fear of God still thy confidence, thy hope equal to the integrity of thy ways?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous destroyed?
8 Accordingly as I have seen men plowing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
Even as I have seen, that those who plough wrong-doing, and sow trouble, have to reap the same.
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
Before the breathing of God they perish, and before the breath of his nostrils they come to their end.
10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness have to scatter themselves abroad.
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?
But to me a word came by stealth, and my ear took in a scarcely perceptible whisper thereof.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
In intense thoughts out of visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men:
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
Dread came over me, with trembling, and it caused all my bones to shudder.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
Then flitted a spirit past before my face; the hair of my body stood up:
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],
It stood still, but I could not recognize its form; a figure was before my eyes, a slight whisper, then a [louder] voice I heard, saying,
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
Can a mortal be more righteous than God? or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
Behold, in his servants he putteth no trust, and his angels he chargeth with folly:
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 less in those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed till they come to be eaten by the moth?
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
From morning to evening are they broken to pieces: without laying it [to heart] they perish for ever.
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Behold, their excellency which is in them is torn away: they die, and this without wisdom.
