Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said:
2 "If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
If we start to speak to you, perhaps you will take it badly, but who can hold back the words he has conceived?
3 Look, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.
Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weary hands.
4 Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.
Your words have reassured the wavering, and you have fortified the trembling knees.
5 But now it is come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.
But now the scourge has overcome you, and you falter. It has touched you, and you are disturbed.
6 Isn't your piety your confidence? Isn't the integrity of your ways your hope?
Where is your reverence, your fortitude, your patience, and the perfection of your ways?
7 "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Consider this, I beg you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when have the righteous been destroyed?
8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
In fact, I have instead seen those who work iniquity and who sow resentments, reap them,
9 By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
perishing by the breath of God, and being consumed by the wrath of his spirit.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of young lions have been worn away.
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
The tiger has perished because it does not have prey, and the young lions have been scattered.
12 "Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.
Furthermore, a word was spoken to me in secret, and, as if by theft, my ears received the pulse of its whisper.
13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
In the horror of a vision by night, when men are accustomed to be overtaken by a deep sleep,
14 fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
fear and trembling seized me and all my bones were terrified.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair on my body stood up.
16 It stood still, but I couldn't discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
There appeared an image before my eyes, someone whose face I did not recognize, and I heard a voice like a gentle breeze.
17 'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
Should man be justified in relation to God, or will a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Look, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he finds imperfection.
19 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth.
How much more will those who live in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundation, be consumed like the moth?
20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
From morning all the way to evening, they will be cut down, and because no one understands, they will be destroyed without ceasing.
21 Isn't their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.'
But those who are left behind will be taken away from them; they will die, and not in wisdom.
