Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?
If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient? But who can stop himself from speaking?
3 For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,
See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened weak hands.
4 and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.
Your words have supported him who was falling; you have made feeble knees firm.
5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.
But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are troubled.
6 Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?
Is not your fear your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?
Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent? Or when were the upright people ever cut off?
8 Accordingly as I have seen men plowing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.
According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap it.
9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.
By the breath of God they perish; by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
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, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.
11 The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.
The old lion perishes for lack of victims; the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.
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?
Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper about it.
13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,
Then came thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on people.
14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.
It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me, and all my bones shook.
15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair of my flesh 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],
The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,
17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
“Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.
See, if God puts no trust in his servants; if he accuses his angels of 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 more is this true of those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed sooner than a moth?
20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.
Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without anyone noticing them.
21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Are not their tent cords plucked up among them? They die; they die without wisdom.
