Job 4

English Standard Version

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
    Yet who can keep from speaking?
³Behold, you have instructed many,
    and you have ^(A)strengthened the weak hands.
⁴Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
    and you have ^(B)made firm the feeble knees.
⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
    it touches you, and you are dismayed.
⁶^(C)Is not your fear of God^[a] your ^(D)confidence,
    and the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷“Remember: ^(E)who that was innocent ever perished?
    Or where were the upright cut off?
⁸As I have seen, those who ^(F)plow iniquity
    and sow trouble reap the same.
⁹By ^(G)the breath of God they perish,
    and by ^(H)the blast of his anger they are consumed.
¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
    ^(I)the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
    and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
    my ear received ^(J)the whisper of it.
¹³Amid ^(K)thoughts from ^(L)visions of the night,
    when ^(M)deep sleep falls on men,
¹⁴dread came upon me, and trembling,
    which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵A spirit glided past my face;
    the hair of my flesh stood up.
¹⁶It stood still,
    but I could not discern its appearance.
^(N)A form was before my eyes;
    there was silence, then I heard ^(O)a voice:
¹⁷^(P)‘Can mortal man be in the right before^[b] God?
    Can a man be pure before his Maker?
¹⁸Even in his servants ^(Q)he puts no trust,
    and his angels he charges with error;
¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of ^(R)clay,
    whose foundation is in ^(S)the dust,
    who are crushed like^[c] ^(T)the moth.
²⁰Between ^(U)morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
    they perish forever ^(V)without anyone regarding it.
²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
    ^(W)do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

Footnotes

Job 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God
Job 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse
Job 4:19 Or before

2 Samuel 4

English Standard Version

Ish-bosheth Murdered

4 When Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, ^(A)his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. ²Now Saul's son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man of Benjamin from Beeroth (^(B)for Beeroth also is counted part of Benjamin; ³^(C)the Beerothites fled ^(D)to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day).

⁴^(E)Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan ^(F)came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

⁵Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him ^(G)in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.^[a] ⁷When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of ^(H)the Arabah all night, ⁸and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, ^(I)who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.” ⁹But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, ^(J)“As the Lord lives, ^(K)who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, ¹⁰^(L)when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, ^(M)I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. ¹¹How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now ^(N)require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” ¹²And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it ^(O)in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

Footnotes

2 Samuel 4:6 Septuagint And behold, the doorkeeper of the house had been cleaning wheat, but she grew drowsy and slept. So Rechab and Baanah his brother slipped in