Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?ss3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.s10 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 perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.s13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.ss15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: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,s17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:s19 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 destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.s21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

Job 4

Eliphaz Speaks Out

1-6 Now You're the One in TroubleThen Eliphaz from Teman spoke up: "Would you mind if I said something to you? Under the circumstances it's hard to keep quiet. You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit. Your words have put stumbling people on their feet, put fresh hope in people about to collapse. But now you're the one in trouble—you're hurting! You've been hit hard and you're reeling from the blow. But shouldn't your devout life give you confidence now? Shouldn't your exemplary life give you hope?
7-11 "Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end? It's my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them. The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily, but when he's toothless he's useless— No teeth, no prey—and the cubs wander off to fend for themselves.
12-16 "A word came to me in secret— a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly. It came in a scary dream one night, after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep. Dread stared me in the face, and Terror. I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot. A spirit glided right in front of me— the hair on my head stood on end. I couldn't tell what it was that appeared there— a blur...and then I heard a muffled voice:
17-21 "'How can mere mortals be more righteous than God? How can humans be purer than their Creator? Why, God doesn't even trust his own servants, doesn't even cheer his angels, So how much less these bodies composed of mud, fragile as moths? These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow, and no one even notices—gone without a trace. When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses— we die and are never the wiser for having lived.'"