Eliphaz
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2‘If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
But who can keep from speaking?
3Think how you have instructed many,
how you have strengthened feeble hands.
4Your words have supported those who stumbled;
you have strengthened faltering knees.
5But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6Should not your piety be your confidence
and your blameless ways your hope?
7‘Consider now: who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed?
8As I have observed, those who plough evil
and those who sow trouble reap it.
9At the breath of God they perish;
at the blast of his anger they are no more.
10The lions may roar and growl,
yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
11The lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12‘A word was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper of it.
13Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people,
14fear and trembling seized me
and made all my bones shake.
15A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.
16It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:
17“Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
18If God places no trust in his servants,
if he charges his angels with error,
19how much more those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who are crushed more readily than a moth!
20Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
unnoticed, they perish for ever.
21Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
so that they die without wisdom?”
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?4.2 to…: Heb. a word4.2 withhold…: Heb. refrain from words? 3Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 4Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
7Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? 8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.4.9 by the breath…: that is, by his anger 10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 11The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
12Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.4.12 secretly: Heb. by stealth 13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 14Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.4.14 came…: Heb. met4.14 all: Heb. the multitude of 15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16It 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,4.16 there…: or, I heard a still voice 17Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:4.18 and his…: or, nor in his angels, in whom he put light 19How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? 20They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.4.20 destroyed: Heb. beaten in pieces 21Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
