Job 4
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 If we essay to address a word to thee, wilt thou be wearied? yet who is able to refrain from speaking?
If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
3 Behold, thou hast [ere this] corrected many, and weak hands thou wast wont to strengthen.
Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
4 Him that stumbled thy words used to uphold, and to sinking knees thou gavest vigor.
Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
5 Yet now, when it cometh to thee, thou art wearied: it toucheth even thee, and thou art terrified.
But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Is not then thy fear of God still thy confidence, thy hope equal to the integrity of thy ways?
Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
8 Even as I have seen, that those who plough wrong-doing, and sow trouble, have to reap the same.
On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
9 Before the breathing of God they perish, and before the breath of his nostrils they come to their end.
Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:
11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness have to scatter themselves abroad.
The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
12 But to me a word came by stealth, and my ear took in a scarcely perceptible whisper thereof.
Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.
13 In intense thoughts out of visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men:
In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
14 Dread came over me, with trembling, and it caused all my bones to shudder.
Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
15 Then flitted a spirit past before my face; the hair of my body stood up:
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 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,
There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:
17 Can a mortal be more righteous than God? or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 Behold, in his servants he putteth no trust, and his angels he chargeth with folly:
Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
19 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?
How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
20 From morning to evening are they broken to pieces: without laying it [to heart] they perish for ever.
From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
21 Behold, their excellency which is in them is torn away: they die, and this without wisdom.
And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
