Job
Chapter 4

1

Then spoke Eliphaz the Temanite, who said:

2

If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind? For how can anyone refrain from speaking?

3

Behold, you have instructed many, and have made firm their feeble hands.

4

Your words have upheld the stumbler; you have strengthened his faltering knees.

5

But now that it comes to you, you are impatient; when it touches yourself, you are dismayed.

6

Is not your piety a source of confidence, and your integrity of life your hope?

7

Reflect now, what innocent person perishes? Since when are the upright destroyed?

8

As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same.

9

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.

10

¹ Though the lion roars, though the king of beasts cries out, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;

11

The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12

² For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.

13

In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14

Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones.

15

Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up.

16

It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice:

17

"Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker?

18

Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault.

19

How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth!

20

Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever.

21

The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom."

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Footnotes

¹ [10] The lion: used figuratively here for the violent, rapacious sinner who cannot prevail against God.

² [12-21] A dramatic presentation of the idea of man's nothingness in contrast to God's greatness.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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