Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

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

If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou 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, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

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

Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

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

But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

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

Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

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

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

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

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, 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 blast of Eloah they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils 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, and 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 perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps 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, and mine ear received a little thereof.

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 falleth on men,

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

Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to 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 could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and 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 Eloah? 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 put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

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 less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which 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.

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

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

Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.