Job 4
1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —
Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,
2 If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?
“Will you please let me say something to you? I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent [any longer].
3 Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:
In the past, you have instructed/taught many people, and you have encouraged those who were weak.
4 Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.
By what you said, you have helped those who (needed spiritual help/almost quit trusting in God) [MET], and you have enabled them to become spiritually strong again [MET].
5 But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.
But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged. The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.
6 Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?
You revere God; (does that not cause you to trust [in him]?/that should cause you to trust [in him].) [RHQ] If you were guiltless, you would [RHQ] be confident that [God] would not [have allowed] these disasters [to] happen to you!
7 Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.
Think about this: Do innocent people die [while they are still young] [RHQ]? Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? [No!]
8 So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:
What I have experienced is this: [Just as] [MET] farmers who plant bad [seeds] do not harvest good [crops], [just as those who start] trouble for others, later bring trouble on themselves.
9 By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:
They die when God angrily blows his breath on them, when he is very angry with them.
10 [Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:
[Even though wicked people may be very powerful like] young lions, [God] will get rid of them [MET].
11 The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.
[They will die like] fierce lions [that] starve to death when there are no animals that they can kill and eat, and [their children will be separated from each other like] young lions separate from each other [to find food].”
12 But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:
“I heard a message that someone came and whispered to me.
13 When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,
He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me while I was fast asleep.
14 Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:
It caused me to be afraid and tremble; it caused all my bones to shake.
15 Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
A ghost glided past my face and caused the hair on [on the back of] my neck to stand straight up.
16 It stood still, but I could not distinguish its appearance, I looked, but there was no form before mine eyes, —A whispering voice, I heard: —
It stopped, but I could not see what form it had. But [I could sense that] there was some being in front of me, and it said in a quiet voice,
17 Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?
‘(Does God consider anyone to be righteous?/No human beings can be righteous in God’s sight!) [RHQ] (Their creator cannot consider them to be pure./Can their creator consider them to be pure?) [RHQ]
18 Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:
God cannot be sure that his own angels [will always do what is right]; he declares that some of them have done what is wrong.
19 How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:
So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay, who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!
20 Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:
People are sometimes well in the morning, but in the evening they are dead. They are gone forever and do not even know it (OR, and no one pays any attention to it).
21 Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!
They are like [MET] tents that collapse [suddenly]: They die [suddenly] before they become wise.’”
