Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

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

“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

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

Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.

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

Your words have supported him who was falling, you have made the feeble knees firm.

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

But now it has come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.

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

Isn’t your piety your confidence? Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?

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

“Remember, now, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

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

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble, reap the same.

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

By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.

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

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

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

The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.

12 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?

“Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.

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

In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

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

fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.

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

Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.

16 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],

It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,

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

‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

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

Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.

19 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.

How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

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

Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.

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

Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.’