Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 “Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond?

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

3 You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak.

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

4 Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak.

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

5 But now you're the one suffering and you're upset.

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

6 Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope?

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

7 Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed?

"Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

8 From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same!

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

9 A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out.

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

10 Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break.

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

11 Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered.

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

12 A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear.

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

13 Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep.

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

14 I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking.

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

15 Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples.

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

16 Something stopped, but I couldn't see its face. My eyes could only make out a shape. It was totally quiet, and then I heard a voice:

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

17 ‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker?

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

18 If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes,

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

19 how much more does this apply to those who live in these houses made of clay, whose foundations are based on dust, who fall apart like clothing to 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 Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed.

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

21 They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’

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