Chapter 4

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

² If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

³ Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

⁴ Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

⁵ But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

⁶ Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

⁷ Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

⁸ Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

⁹ By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they 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 lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

¹² Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

¹³ In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

¹⁴ Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

¹⁵ Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

¹⁶ It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

¹⁷ Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

¹⁸ Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

¹⁹ How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

²⁰ They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

²¹ Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.