Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger 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, 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 perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness 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. My ear received a whisper of it.

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 falls on men,

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

14 fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones 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 couldn’t discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then 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 puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.

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

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

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

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

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