Job Chapter 4

1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:—

2 If one attempt a word unto thee, wilt thou be impatient? But, to restrain speech, who, can endure?

3 Lo! thou hast admonished many, and, slack hands, hast thou been wont to uphold:

4 Him that was stumbling, have thy words raised up, and, sinking knees, hast thou strengthened.

5 But, now, it cometh upon thee, and thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, and thou art dismayed.

6 Is not, thy reverence, thy confidence? And is not, thy hope, the very integrity of thy ways?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who, being innocent, hath perished, or when, the upright, have been cut off.

8 So far as I have seen, They who plow for iniquity and sow misery, reap the same:

9 By the blast of GOD, they perish, And, by the breath of his nostrils, are they consumed:

10 [Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion, and the noise of the howling lion, yet, the teeth of the fierce lions, are broken:

11 The strong lion perishing for lack of prey, Even the whelps of the lioness, are scattered.

12 But, unto me, something was brought by stealth,—and mine ear caught a whispering of the same:

13 When there were thoughts, from visions of the night,—When deep sleep falleth upon men,

14 Dread, came upon me, and trembling, The multitude of my bones, it put in dread:

15 Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:

16 It stood still, but I could not distinguish its appearance, I looked, but there was no form before mine eyes,—A whispering voice, I heard:—

17 Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?

18 Lo! in his own servants, he trusteth not, and, his own messengers, he chargeth with error:

19 How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, which, in the dust, have their foundation, which are crushed sooner than a moth:

20 Betwixt morning and evening, are they broken in pieces, With none to save, they utterly perish:

21 Is not their tent-rope within them, torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!