Job 4

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answers and says:

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 “Has one tried a word with you? You are weary! And who is able to keep in words?

Hast you been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of your words?

3 Behold, you have instructed many, And feeble hands you make strong.

For whereas you have instructed many, and have strengthened the hands of the weak one,

4 Your words raise up the stumbling one, And you strengthen bowing knees.

and have supported the failing with words, and have imparted courage to feeble knees.

5 But now, it comes to you, And you are weary; It strikes to you, and you are troubled.

Yet now [that] pain has come upon you, and touched you, you are troubled.

6 Is your reverence not your confidence? Your hope—the perfection of your ways?

Is not your fear [founded] in folly, your hope also, and the mischief of your way?

7 Now remember, Who, being innocent, has perished? And where have the upright been cut off?

Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?

8 As I have seen—plowers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!

Accordingly as I have seen men plowing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.

9 From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger [are] consumed.

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.

10 The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken.

The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.

11 An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness separate.

The old lion has perished for lack of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.

12 And a thing is secretly brought to me, And my ear receives a little of it.

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?

13 In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men,

But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,

14 Fear has met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.

horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.

15 And a spirit passes before my face, The hair of my flesh stands up;

And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.

16 It stands, and I do not discern its aspect, A likeness [is] before my eyes, Silence! And I hear a voice:

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],

17 Is mortal man more righteous than God? Is a man cleaner than his Maker?

What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?

18 Behold, He puts no credence in His servants, Nor sets praise in His messengers.

Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.

19 Also—the inhabitants of houses of clay (Whose foundation [is] in the dust, They bruise them before a moth).

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.

20 From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, they perish forever.

And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they can’t help themselves.

21 Has their excellence not been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!”

For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.