Job 4

1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?

“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?

3 Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:

Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

4 Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.

Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

5 But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.

But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

6 Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?

Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.

Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

8 So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:

As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.

9 By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

10 [Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:

The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

11 The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.

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

12 But, unto me, something was brought by stealth, —and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:

Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 When there were thoughts, from visions of the night, —When deep sleep falleth upon men,

In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14 Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:

fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.

15 Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:

Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.

16 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: —

It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:

17 Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?

‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

18 Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:

If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,

19 How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:

how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

20 Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:

They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.

21 Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!

Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’