Eliphaz speaks
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking? Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees. But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope? Consider now: who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more. The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken. The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth. Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever. Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
But who can keep from speaking?
If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
Think how you have instructed many,
how you have strengthened feeble hands.
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Your words have supported those who stumbled;
you have strengthened faltering knees.
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
Should not your piety be your confidence
and your blameless ways your hope?
Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
Consider now: who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
As I have observed, those who plough evil
and those who sow trouble reap it.
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
At the breath of God they perish;
at the blast of his anger they are no more.
By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
The lions may roar and growl,
yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
A word was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper of it.
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people,
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
fear and trembling seized me
and made all my bones shake.
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
It stopped, but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:
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,
Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
If God places no trust in his servants,
if he charges his angels with error,
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
how much more those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who are crushed more readily than a moth.
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
unnoticed, they perish forever.
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
so that they die without wisdom?
Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.