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? |
3 | 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. |
10 | 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. |
13 | 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. |
15 | 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], |
17 | 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: |
19 | 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]. |
21 | Doth not their excellency [which is] in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. |