Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,
Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —
2 “Will you please let me say something to you? I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent [any longer].
If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?
3 In the past, you have instructed/taught many people, and you have encouraged those who were weak.
Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:
4 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].
Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.
5 But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged. The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.
But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.
6 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!
Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?
7 Think about this: Do innocent people die [while they are still young] [RHQ]? Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? [No!]
Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.
8 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.
So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:
9 They die when God angrily blows his breath on them, when he is very angry with them.
By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:
10 [Even though wicked people may be very powerful like] young lions, [God] will get rid of them [MET].
[Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:
11 [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].”
The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.
12 “I heard a message that someone came and whispered to me.
But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:
13 He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me while I was fast asleep.
When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,
14 It caused me to be afraid and tremble; it caused all my bones to shake.
Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:
15 A ghost glided past my face and caused the hair on [on the back of] my neck to stand straight up.
Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
16 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,
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: —
17 ‘(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]
Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?
18 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.
Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:
19 So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay, who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!
How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:
20 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).
Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:
21 They are like [MET] tents that collapse [suddenly]: They die [suddenly] before they become wise.’”
Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!
