4
1 Then Eliphaz the
Temanite answered,
2 “If someone
ventures to talk
with you, will
you be grieved?
But who can
withhold himself from
speaking?
3 Behold,
you have
instructed many,
you have
strengthened the
weak hands.
4 Your
words have supported
him who was falling,
you have made the
feeble knees firm.
5 But
now it has
come to you,
and you faint.
It touches you,
and you are troubled.
6 Isn’t
your piety your
confidence?
Isn’t the integrity
of your ways
your hope?
7 “Remember,
now, who
ever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the
upright cut off?
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.
By the blast
of his anger are
they consumed.
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.
The cubs of the
lioness are
scattered abroad.
12 “Now
a thing
was secretly brought
to me.
My ear received a
whisper of it.
13 In
thoughts from the
visions of the
night,
when deep sleep
falls on men,
14 fear
came on me, and
trembling,
which made all my
bones shake.
15 Then
a spirit passed
before my face.
The hair of
my flesh stood
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,
17 ‘Shall
mortal man be more
just than God?
Shall a man
be more pure
than his Maker?
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 foundation is
in the dust,
who are crushed
before the moth!
20 Between
morning and
evening they are
destroyed.
They perish forever
without any
regarding it.
21 Isn’t
their tent cord
plucked up within them?
They die, and
that without
wisdom.’