Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz, from Teman, replied to Job. He said,

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 “Will you please let me say something to you? I am not [RHQ] able to remain silent [any longer].

Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words?

3 In the past, you have instructed/taught many people, and you have encouraged those who were weak.

For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one,

4 By what you said, you have helped those who (needed spiritual help/almost quit trusting in God) [MET], and you have enabled them to become spiritually strong again [MET].

and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees.

5 But now, when you experience disasters, you become discouraged. The disasters hit you, and you are stunned.

Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled.

6 You revere God; (does that not cause you to trust [in him]?/that should cause you to trust [in him].) [RHQ] If you were guiltless, you would [RHQ] be confident that [God] would not [have allowed] these disasters [to] happen to you!

Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way?

7 Think about this: Do innocent people die [while they are still young] [RHQ]? Does God get rid of godly people [RHQ]? [No!]

Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed?

8 What I have experienced is this: [Just as] [MET] farmers who plant bad [seeds] do not harvest good [crops], [just as those who start] trouble for others, later bring trouble on themselves.

Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves.

9 They die when God angrily blows his breath on them, when he is very angry with them.

They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath.

10 [Even though wicked people may be very powerful like] young lions, [God] will get rid of them [MET].

The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.

11 [They will die like] fierce lions [that] starve to death when there are no animals that they can kill and eat, and [their children will be separated from each other like] young lions separate from each other [to find food].”

The old lion has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another.

12 “I heard a message that someone came and whispered to me.

But if there had been any truth in thy words, none of these evils would have befallen thee. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him?

13 He spoke to me at night when I was having a bad dream that disturbed/frightened me while I was fast asleep.

But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night,

14 It caused me to be afraid and tremble; it caused all my bones to shake.

horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.

15 A ghost glided past my face and caused the hair on [on the back of] my neck to stand straight up.

And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.

16 It stopped, but I could not see what form it had. But [I could sense that] there was some being in front of me, and it said in a quiet voice,

I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there, was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying],

17 ‘(Does God consider anyone to be righteous?/No human beings can be righteous in God’s sight!) [RHQ] (Their creator cannot consider them to be pure./Can their creator consider them to be pure?) [RHQ]

What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?

18 God cannot be sure that his own angels [will always do what is right]; he declares that some of them have done what is wrong.

Whereas he trust not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels.

19 So he certainly cannot trust human beings who were made from dust and clay, who are crushed as easily as moths are crushed!

But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth.

20 People are sometimes well in the morning, but in the evening they are dead. They are gone forever and do not even know it (OR, and no one pays any attention to it).

And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves.

21 They are like [MET] tents that collapse [suddenly]: They die [suddenly] before they become wise.’”

For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.