Job 4
Eliphaz tells Job that he has helped many with his words, but now that he is suffering, he is faltering. Eliphaz questions Job's reverence, fortitude, and patience, suggesting that the innocent do not perish and the righteous are not destroyed. He shares a vision he had in which a spirit told him that no man can be justified before God, and that even God's angels are imperfect, so how can humans, who are fragile and earthly, be pure.
1But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said2If we start to speak to you, perhaps you will take it badly, but who can hold back the words he has conceived3Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weary hands4Your words have reassured the wavering, and you have fortified the trembling knees5But now the scourge has overcome you, and you falter. It has touched you, and you are disturbed6Where is your reverence, your fortitude, your patience, and the perfection of your ways7Consider this, I beg you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when have the righteous been destroyed8In fact, I have instead seen those who work iniquity and who sow resentments, reap them9perishing by the breath of God, and being consumed by the wrath of his spirit10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of young lions have been worn away11The tiger has perished because it does not have prey, and the young lions have been scattered12Furthermore, a word was spoken to me in secret, and, as if by theft, my ears received the pulse of its whisper13In the horror of a vision by night, when men are accustomed to be overtaken by a deep sleep14fear and trembling seized me and all my bones were terrified15And when a spirit passed before me, the hair on my body stood up16There appeared an image before my eyes, someone whose face I did not recognize, and I heard a voice like a gentle breeze17Should man be justified in relation to God, or will a man be more pure than his Maker18Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he finds imperfection19How much more will those who live in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundation, be consumed like the moth20From morning all the way to evening, they will be cut down, and because no one understands, they will be destroyed without ceasing21But those who are left behind will be taken away from them; they will die, and not in wisdom
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