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