Job 4

Chapter 4

Eliphaz’s First Response to Job

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:
2 “Will you be patient and let me say a word?
For who could keep from speaking out?3 “In the past you have encouraged many people;
you have strengthened those who were weak.4 Your words have supported those who were falling;
you encouraged those with shaky knees.5 But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.
You are terrified when it touches you.6 Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?
Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?7 “Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
When have the upright been destroyed?8 My experience shows that those who plant trouble
and cultivate evil will harvest the same.9 A breath from God destroys them.
They vanish in a blast of his anger.10 The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,
but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.11 The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.12 “This truth was given to me in secret,
as though whispered in my ear.13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,
when people are in a deep sleep.14 Fear gripped me,
and my bones trembled.15 A spiritt swept past my face,
and my hair stood on end.t16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.
There was a form before my eyes.
In the silence I heard a voice say,17 ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?
Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’18 “If God does not trust his own angels
and has charged his messengers with foolishness,19 how much less will he trust people made of clay!
They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,
gone forever without a trace.21 Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,
and they die in ignorance.

Job 4

Eliphaz Begins to Speak

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:t

2 “If someonet should attemptt a word with you,
will you be impatient?t
But who can refrain from speakingt?

3 Look,t you have instructedt many;
you have strengthenedt feeble hands.t

4 Your words have supportedt those
who stumbled,t
and you have strengthened the knees
that gave way.ts

5 But now the same thingt comes to you,
and you are discouraged;t
it strikes you,
and you are terrified.t

6 Is not your pietyt your confidence,t
and your blameless ways your hope?ts

7 Call to mind now:s
Who,t being innocent, ever perished?t
And where were upright peoplet ever destroyed?t

8 Even as I have seen,t those who plows iniquityt
and those who sow trouble reap the same.t

9 By the breatht of God they perish,s
and by the blastt of his anger they are consumed.

10 There ist the roaring of the lions
and the growlingt of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken.t

11 The mighty liont perishest for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lionesst are scattered.

Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath

12 “Now a word was secretlyt broughtt to me,
and my ear caughtt a whispert of it.

13 In the troubling thoughtst of the dreamst in the night
when a deep sleept falls on men,

14 a tremblingt gripped me – and a terror! –
and made all my bones shake.t

15 Then a breath of airt passest by my face;
it makest the hair of my flesh stand up.

16 It stands still,s
but I cannot recognizet its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice:s

17 “Ist a mortal mant righteoust beforet God?
Or a man pures before his Creator?t

18 Ift Godt puts no trust int his servantss
and attributest follyt to his angels,

19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay,s
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushedt liket a moth?

20 They are destroyedt between morning and evening;t
they perish forevers without anyone regarding it.t

21 Is not their excess wealtht taken away from them?st
They die,s yet without attaining wisdom.ts