以利法的責難

提幔人以利法回答說:
「若有人向你進言,
你會厭煩嗎?
可是,誰能忍住不說呢?
你曾教導許多人,
使無力的手強壯。
你的話使人免於跌倒,
你使顫抖的膝硬朗。
但現在苦難一來,
你便灰心喪膽;
災禍來臨,
你便驚慌失措。
你敬畏上帝還沒有信心嗎?
你行為純全還沒有盼望嗎?
你想一想,
哪有無辜的人滅亡?
哪有正直的人遭殃?
據我所見,
播惡收惡,
種禍得禍。
他們被上帝的氣息所毀,
被上帝的怒氣所滅。
10 獅子咆哮,猛獅吼叫,
壯獅的牙齒被敲掉。
11 雄獅因無食而死,
母獅的幼崽離散。

12 「有信息暗暗地傳給我,
一聲低語傳入我耳中。
13 夜間人們沉睡的時候,
在攪擾思緒的異象中,
14 恐懼襲來,
令我戰慄不已,
全身發抖。
15 有靈從我臉上拂過,
使我毛骨悚然。
16 那靈停住,
我無法辨認其模樣。
眼前出現一個形狀,
寂靜中聽見有聲音說,
17 『在上帝面前,世人豈算得上公義?
在創造主面前,凡人豈算得上純潔?
18 連上帝的僕人都無法令祂信任,
連祂的天使都被祂找出過錯,
19 更何況源自塵土、
住在土造的軀殼裡、
脆弱如蛾的世人呢?
20 早晚之間,他們便被毀滅,
永遠消逝,無人察覺。
21 他們帳篷的繩索被拔起,
他們毫無智慧地死去。』

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

If we venture to converse with you, will you be offended? Yet who can restrain himself from speaking?

Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

Your words have held firm him who was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

But now it is come upon you, and you faint and are grieved; it touches you, and you are troubled and dismayed.

Is not your [reverent] fear of God your confidence and the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?

Think [earnestly], I beg of you: who, being innocent, ever perished? Or where were those upright and in right standing with God cut off?

As I myself have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble and mischief reap the same.

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are 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 and strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and 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 upon 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 [The spirit] stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying,

17 Can mortal man be just before God, or be more right than He is? Can a man be pure before his Maker, or be more cleansed than He is?(A)

18 Even in His [heavenly] servants He puts no trust or confidence, and His angels He charges with folly and error—

19 How much more those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.

20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed; without anyone noticing it they perish forever.

21 Is not their tent cord plucked up within them [so that the tent falls]? Do they not die, and that without [acquiring] wisdom?