Job 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 If anyone tries to speak with you, will you be impatient? But who can stop himself from speaking?
If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
3 See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened weak hands.
Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
4 Your words have supported him who was falling; you have made feeble knees firm.
Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
5 But now trouble has come to you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are troubled.
But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Is not your fear your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
7 Think about this, please: Who has ever perished when innocent? Or when were the upright people ever cut off?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap it.
On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
9 By the breath of God they perish; by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
10 The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions—they are broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:
11 The old lion perishes for lack of victims; the cubs of the lioness are scattered everywhere.
The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
12 Now a certain matter was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper about it.
Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.
13 Then came thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on people.
In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
14 It was at night when fear and trembling came upon me, and all my bones shook.
Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
15 Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair of my flesh stood up.
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice that said,
There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:
17 “Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18 See, if God puts no trust in his servants; if he accuses his angels of folly,
Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
19 how much more is this true of those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed sooner than a moth?
How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without anyone noticing them.
From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
21 Are not their tent cords plucked up among them? They die; they die without wisdom.
And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
