Job 4
Holman Christian Standard Bible
First Series of Speeches
Eliphaz Speaks
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 Should anyone try to speak with you
when you are exhausted?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Indeed, you have instructed many
and have strengthened(A) weak hands.
4 Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling
and braced the knees that were buckling.(B)
5 But now that this has happened to you,
you have become exhausted.
It strikes(C) you, and you are dismayed.
6 Isn’t your piety your confidence,
and the integrity of your life[a] your hope?(D)
7 Consider: who has perished when he was innocent?
Where have the honest been destroyed?(E)
8 In my experience, those who plow injustice
and those who sow trouble(F) reap the same.(G)
9 They perish at a single blast(H) from God
and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils.(I)
10 The lion may roar and the fierce lion(J) growl,
but the fangs of young lions are broken.(K)
11 The strong lion dies if it catches no prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.(L)
12 A word was brought to me in secret;
my ears caught a whisper of it.(M)
13 Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night,(N)
when deep sleep(O) descends on men,
14 fear and trembling came over me(P)
and made all my bones shake.
15 A wind[b] passed by me,
and I shuddered with fear.[c]
16 A figure stood there,
but I could not recognize its appearance;
a form loomed before my eyes.
I heard a quiet voice:
17 “Can a person be more righteous than God,
or a man more pure than his Maker?”(Q)
18 If God puts no trust in His servants
and He charges His angels with foolishness,[d](R)
19 how much more those who dwell in clay houses,(S)
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth!
20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
they perish forever while no one notices.(T)
21 Are their tent cords not pulled up?
They die without wisdom.(U)
约伯记 4
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
以利法的责难
4 提幔人以利法回答说：
2 “若有人向你进言，
你会厌烦吗？
可是，谁能忍住不说呢？
3 你曾教导许多人，
使无力的手强壮。
4 你的话使人免于跌倒，
你使颤抖的膝硬朗。
5 但现在苦难一来，
你便灰心丧胆；
灾祸来临，
你便惊慌失措。
6 你敬畏上帝还没有信心吗？
你行为纯全还没有盼望吗？
7 你想一想，
哪有无辜的人灭亡？
哪有正直的人遭殃？
8 据我所见，
播恶收恶，
种祸得祸。
9 他们被上帝的气息所毁，
被上帝的怒气所灭。
10 狮子咆哮，猛狮吼叫，
壮狮的牙齿被敲掉。
11 雄狮因无食而死，
母狮的幼崽离散。
12 “有信息暗暗地传给我，
一声低语传入我耳中。
13 夜间人们沉睡的时候，
在搅扰思绪的异象中，
14 恐惧袭来，
令我战栗不已，
全身发抖。
15 有灵从我脸上拂过，
使我毛骨悚然。
16 那灵停住，
我无法辨认其模样。
眼前出现一个形状，
寂静中听见有声音说，
17 ‘在上帝面前，世人岂算得上公义？
在创造主面前，凡人岂算得上纯洁？
18 连上帝的仆人都无法令祂信任，
连祂的天使都被祂找出过错，
19 更何况源自尘土、
住在土造的躯壳里、
脆弱如蛾的世人呢？
20 早晚之间，他们便被毁灭，
永远消逝，无人察觉。
21 他们帐篷的绳索被拔起，
他们毫无智慧地死去。’
Job 4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 4
Eliphaz’s First Speech. 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 If someone attempts a word with you, would you mind?
How can anyone refrain from speaking?
3 Look, you have instructed many,
and made firm their feeble hands.
4 Your words have upheld the stumbler;
you have strengthened faltering knees.
5 But now that it comes to you, you are impatient;
when it touches you, you are dismayed.
6 Is not your piety a source of confidence,
and your integrity of life your hope?
7 Reflect now, what innocent person perishes?(A)
Where are the upright destroyed?
8 As I see it, those who plow mischief
and sow trouble will reap them.
9 By the breath of God they perish,(B)
and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.
10 Though the lion[a] roars, though the king of beasts cries out,
yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 A word was stealthily brought to me,[b]
my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 In my thoughts during visions of the night,(C)
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
14 Fear came upon me, and shuddering,
that terrified me to the bone.
15 Then a spirit passed before me,
and the hair of my body stood on end.
16 It paused, but its likeness I could not recognize;
a figure was before my eyes,
in silence I heard a voice:(D)
17 “Can anyone be more in the right than God?(E)
Can mortals be more blameless than their Maker?
18 Look, he puts no trust in his servants,(F)
and even with his messengers he finds fault.
19 How much more with those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed more easily than a moth!
20 Morning or evening they may be shattered;
unnoticed, they perish forever.
21 The pegs of their tent are plucked up;
they die without knowing wisdom.”
Footnotes
- 4:10 The lion: used figuratively here for the violent, rapacious sinner who cannot prevail against God.
- 4:12–21 A dramatic presentation of the idea of human nothingness in contrast to God’s greatness (v. 17). The message of the “private revelation” that stirs Eliphaz so deeply is in reality expressed countless times in the Bible. The statements of the friends are often “truths” that are insensitive or irrelevant to Job’s questioning.
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