Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

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

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

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

3 Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.

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

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

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].

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

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

6 Isn’t your piety your confidence? Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?

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!

7 “Remember, now, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

[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].”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,

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

‘(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]

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

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.

19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

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

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

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).

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

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