Job 4

1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said: —

But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said:

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

If we start to speak to you, perhaps you will take it badly, but who can hold back the words he has conceived?

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

Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weary hands.

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

Your words have reassured the wavering, and you have fortified the trembling knees.

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

But now the scourge has overcome you, and you falter. It has touched you, and you are disturbed.

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

Where is your reverence, your fortitude, your patience, and the perfection of your ways?

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

Consider this, I beg you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when have the righteous been destroyed?

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

In fact, I have instead seen those who work iniquity and who sow resentments, reap them,

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

perishing by the breath of God, and being consumed by the wrath of his spirit.

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

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of young lions have been worn away.

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

The tiger has perished because it does not have prey, and the young lions have been scattered.

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

Furthermore, a word was spoken to me in secret, and, as if by theft, my ears received the pulse of its whisper.

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

In the horror of a vision by night, when men are accustomed to be overtaken by a deep sleep,

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

fear and trembling seized me and all my bones were terrified.

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

And when a spirit passed before me, the hair on my body stood up.

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: —

There appeared an image before my eyes, someone whose face I did not recognize, and I heard a voice like a gentle breeze.

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

Should man be justified in relation to God, or will a man be more pure than his Maker?

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

Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he finds imperfection.

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 will those who live in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundation, be consumed like the moth?

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

From morning all the way to evening, they will be cut down, and because no one understands, they will be destroyed without ceasing.

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

But those who are left behind will be taken away from them; they will die, and not in wisdom.