Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

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

2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

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

3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

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

9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

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

10 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 perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

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

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

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

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

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

14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

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

15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

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

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

17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

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

18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

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

19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

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

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

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

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