Job 4
Evangelical Heritage Version
Round One: Eliphaz’s Speech
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded:
2 If someone ventures to have a word with you, will you grow impatient?
But who can refrain from speaking up?
3 You yourself have instructed many,
and you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have raised up people who were stumbling,
and you have given support to buckling knees.
5 But now that this has happened to you, you grow impatient.
This strikes you and you are disturbed.
6 Shouldn’t your piety give you confidence?
Don’t your blameless ways give you reason to hope?
7 Now remember this:
Who has ever perished if he was innocent?
Where were the upright ever erased?
8 This is what I have observed:
Those who plow evil and sow trouble will reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish.
By the blast from his nostrils they come to an end.
10 The lion roars, and the fierce lion growls,
but the teeth of the young lion are broken.[a]
11 The strong lion perishes from a lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 A word was delivered to me secretly.
My ears caught a whisper of it.
13 In the middle of anxious thoughts arising from visions in the night,
at the time when deep sleep falls upon people,
14 terror and trembling came over me
and made all my bones tremble.
15 A spirit[b] passed in front of my face.
The hair on my body stood on end.
16 A figure stood in front of me,
but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a quiet voice say,
17 “Can a person be righteous before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?”[c]
18 If God does not trust his own servants,
if he charges his messengers with error,
19 how much more those who dwell in clay houses,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who are crushed more quickly than a moth!
20 From dawn to dusk they are smashed to pieces.
They perish forever, and no one even notices.
21 Won’t the ropes that hold up their tents be pulled up,[d]
so that they die without gaining wisdom?
Job 4
Young's Literal Translation
4 And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: --
2 Hath one tried a word with thee? -- Thou art weary! And to keep in words who is able?
3 Lo, thou hast instructed many, And feeble hands thou makest strong.
4 The stumbling one do thy words raise up, And bowing knees thou dost strengthen.
5 But now, it cometh in unto thee, And thou art weary; It striketh unto thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Is not thy reverence thy confidence? Thy hope -- the perfection of thy ways?
7 Remember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off?
8 As I have seen -- ploughers of iniquity, And sowers of misery, reap it!
9 From the breath of God they perish, And from the spirit of His anger consumed.
10 The roaring of a lion, And the voice of a fierce lion, And teeth of young lions have been broken.
11 An old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.
12 And unto me a thing is secretly brought, And receive doth mine ear a little of it.
13 In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men,
14 Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.
15 And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh;
16 It standeth, and I discern not its aspect, A similitude [is] over-against mine eyes, Silence! and a voice I hear:
17 `Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner?
18 Lo, in His servants He putteth no credence, Nor in His messengers setteth praise.'
19 Also -- the inhabitants of houses of clay, (Whose foundation [is] in the dust, They bruise them before a moth.)
20 From morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish.
21 Hath not their excellency been removed with them? They die, and not in wisdom!
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.