| Chapter 4 |
1 | Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
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2 | 'If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
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3 | Behold, you have instructed many, You have strengthened the weak hands.
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4 | Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.
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5 | But now it is come to you, and you faint; It touches you, and you are troubled.
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6 | Isn't your piety your confidence, The integrity of your ways your hope?
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7 | 'Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
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8 | According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, Reap the same.
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9 | By the breath of God they perish, By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
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10 | The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, The teeth of the young lions, are broken.
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11 | The old lion perishes for lack of prey, The whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
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12 | 'Now a thing was secretly brought to me, My ear received a whisper of it.
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13 | In thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
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14 | Fear came on me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.
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15 | Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
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16 | It stood still, but I couldn't discern the appearance of it; A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
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17 | 'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
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18 | Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
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19 | How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!
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20 | Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
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21 | Isn't their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.'
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