Job 4

Eliphaz Challenges Job

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke up.

2 “If someone tries to talk to you, will you get tired of hearing it, But who can keep quiet,

3 You have been the one giving advice to a lot of people, strengthening weak hands.

4 Your words have lifted up those who were stumbling, and you have strengthened shaky knees.

5 But now that trouble’s hit you, you are tripping out; it touches you, and you are losing it.

6 Should not your respect for God and your clean living be your confidence,

The Innocent Do Not Get Destroyed

7 Think about it, has anyone innocent ever been wiped out, Where have upright people ever been destroyed,

8 From what I have seen, those who plow evil and plant trouble end up reaping the same thing.

9 At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of His anger they are gone.

10 The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the teeth of the young lions get broken.

11 The strong lion dies for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

A Vision in the Night

12 A word came to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 In the middle of disturbing dreams at night, when deep sleep falls on people,

14 Fear and trembling hit me, and all my bones started shaking.

15 A spirit slid past my face, and the hair on my neck stood up.

16 It stopped, but I could not make out its appearance. There was a form before my eyes, and I heard a quiet voice say:

17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, Can a man be purer than his Maker,

18 If God does not even trust His own servants and charges His angels with error,

19 How much more those who live in houses of clay, built on dust, crushed more easily than a moth!

20 They are broken to pieces between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone noticing.

21 The cord of their tent is pulled up, and they die without wisdom.”