< Job 4 >
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
2 If we essay to address a word to thee, wilt thou be wearied? yet who is able to refrain from speaking?
3 Behold, thou hast [ere this] corrected many, and weak hands thou wast wont to strengthen.
4 Him that stumbled thy words used to uphold, and to sinking knees thou gavest vigor.
5 Yet now, when it cometh to thee, thou art wearied: it toucheth even thee, and thou art terrified.
6 Is not then thy fear of God still thy confidence, thy hope equal to the integrity of thy ways?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous destroyed?
8 Even as I have seen, that those who plough wrong-doing, and sow trouble, have to reap the same.
9 Before the breathing of God they perish, and before the breath of his nostrils they come to their end.
10 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 perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness have to scatter themselves abroad.
12 But to me a word came by stealth, and my ear took in a scarcely perceptible whisper thereof.
13 In intense thoughts out of visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men:
14 Dread came over me, with trembling, and it caused all my bones to shudder.
15 Then flitted a spirit past before my face; the hair of my body 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,
17 Can a mortal be more righteous than God? or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Behold, in his servants he putteth no trust, and his angels he chargeth with folly:
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?
20 From morning to evening are they broken to pieces: without laying it [to heart] they perish for ever.
21 Behold, their excellency which is in them is torn away: they die, and this without wisdom.
