Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,

And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: —

2 “Will you please let me say something to you? I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent [any longer].

Hath one tried a word with thee? — Thou art weary! And to keep in words who is able?

3 In the past, you have instructed/taught many people, and you have encouraged those who were weak.

Lo, thou hast instructed many, And feeble hands thou makest strong.

4 By what you said, you have helped those who (needed spiritual help/almost quit trusting in God) [MET], and you have enabled them to become spiritually strong again [MET].

The stumbling one do thy words raise up, And bowing knees thou dost strengthen.

5 But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged. The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.

But now, it cometh in unto thee, And thou art weary; It striketh unto thee, and thou art troubled.

6 You revere God; (does that not cause you to trust [in him]?/that should cause you to trust [in him].) [RHQ] If you were guiltless, you would [RHQ] be confident that [God] would not [have allowed] these disasters [to] happen to you!

Is not thy reverence thy confidence? Thy hope — the perfection of thy ways?

7 Think about this: Do innocent people die [while they are still young] [RHQ]? Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? [No!]

Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off?

8 What I have experienced is this: [Just as] [MET] farmers who plant bad [seeds] do not harvest good [crops], [just as those who start] trouble for others, later bring trouble on themselves.

As I have seen — ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!

9 They die when God angrily blows his breath on them, when he is very angry with them.

From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed.

10 [Even though wicked people may be very powerful like] young lions, [God] will get rid of them [MET].

The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken.

11 [They will die like] fierce lions [that] starve to death when there are no animals that they can kill and eat, and [their children will be separated from each other like] young lions separate from each other [to find food].”

An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.

12 “I heard a message that someone came and whispered to me.

And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it.

13 He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me while I was fast asleep.

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

14 It caused me to be afraid and tremble; it caused all my bones to shake.

Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.

15 A ghost glided past my face and caused the hair on [on the back of] my neck to stand straight up.

And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh;

16 It stopped, but I could not see what form it had. But [I could sense that] there was some being in front of me, and it said in a quiet voice,

It standeth, and I discern not its aspect, A similitude [is] over-against mine eyes, Silence! and a voice I hear:

17 ‘(Does God consider anyone to be righteous?/No human beings can be righteous in God’s sight!) [RHQ] (Their creator cannot consider them to be pure./Can their creator consider them to be pure?) [RHQ]

'Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner?

18 God cannot be sure that his own angels [will always do what is right]; he declares that some of them have done what is wrong.

Lo, in His servants He putteth no credence, Nor in His messengers setteth praise.'

19 So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay, who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!

Also — the inhabitants of houses of clay, (Whose foundation [is] in the dust, They bruise them before a moth.)

20 People are sometimes well in the morning, but in the evening they are dead. They are gone forever and do not even know it (OR, and no one pays any attention to it).

From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish.

21 They are like [MET] tents that collapse [suddenly]: They die [suddenly] before they become wise.’”

Hath not their excellency been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!