4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:1
4:2 “If someone2 should attempt3 a word with you,
will you be impatient?4
But who can refrain from speaking5?
4:3 Look,6 you have instructed7 many,
you have strengthened8 feeble hands.9
4:4 Your words have supported10 those who stumbled,11
and you have strengthened the knees
that gave way.12
4:5 But now the same thing13 comes to you,
and you are discouraged;14
it strikes you,
and you are terrified.15
4:6 Is not your piety16 your confidence,17
and your blameless ways your hope?18
Who,20 being innocent, ever perished?21
And where were upright people22 ever destroyed?23
4:8 Even as I have seen,24 those who plow25 iniquity26
and those who sow trouble reap the same.27
4:9 By the breath28 of God they perish,29
and by the blast30 of his anger they are consumed.
4:10 There is31 the roaring of the lion32
and the growling33 of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken.34
4:11 The mighty lion35 perishes36 for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness37 are scattered.
Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath
4:12 “Now a word was secretly38 brought39 to me,
and my ear caught40 a whisper41 of it.
4:13 In the troubling thoughts42 of the dreams43 in the night
when a deep sleep44 falls on men,
4:14 a trembling45 gripped me—and a terror!—
and made all my bones shake.46
4:15 Then a breath of air47 passes48 by my face;
it makes49 the hair of my flesh stand up.
but I cannot recognize51 its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice:52
4:17 “Is53 a mortal man54 righteous55 before56 God?
Or a man pure57 before his Creator?58
4:18 If59 God60 puts no trust in61 his servants62
and attributes63 folly64 to his angels,
4:19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay,65
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed66 like67 a moth?
4:20 They are destroyed68 from morning to evening;69
they perish forever70 without anyone regarding it.71
4:21 Is not their excess wealth72 taken away from them?73
They die,74 yet without attaining wisdom.75