Job 4

Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: ‡ Job 15:1Job 2:11Job 22:1Job 3:1-2Job 42:9Job 6:1Job 8:1

2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? ‡ Job 32:18-20Act 4:20Jer 6:112Co 2:4-62Co 7:8-10Jer 20:9

Yet who can keep from speaking?

3 Surely you have instructed many, ‡ Isa 35:3Heb 12:12Job 16:5Luk 22:32Pro 10:21Deu 3:28Eph 4:29Luk 22:43 +7

and have strengthened their feeble hands.

4 Your words have steadied those who stumbled; ‡ 1Th 5:14Heb 12:12Pro 12:18Psa 145:142Co 2:72Co 7:6Dan 5:6Isa 35:3-4 +1

you have braced the knees that were buckling.

5 But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. ‡ Job 19:212Co 4:162Co 4:1Heb 12:3Heb 12:5Job 1:11Job 2:5Job 3:25-26 +2

It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

6 Is your reverence not your confidence, ‡ Pro 3:26Pro 14:26Job 1:1Job 17:15Job 23:11-12Job 13:15Job 16:171Pe 1:13 +6

and the uprightness of your ways your hope?

7 Consider now, I plead: ‡ Psa 37:252Pe 2:9Job 36:7Act 28:4Job 8:20Ecc 7:15Ecc 9:1-2Job 9:22-23

Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

Or where have the upright been destroyed?

8 As I have observed, those who plow iniquity ‡ Gal 6:7-8Pro 22:8Hos 8:72Co 9:6Hos 10:12-13Jer 4:18Job 15:35Psa 7:14-16

and those who sow trouble reap the same.

9 By the breath of God they perish, ‡ Job 15:302Th 2:8Isa 11:4Isa 30:33Psa 18:15Rev 2:16Exo 15:10Exo 15:8 +3

and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, ‡ Psa 58:6Pro 30:14Psa 3:7Psa 57:4Job 29:17Job 5:15

yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, ‡ Psa 34:102Ti 4:17Gen 49:9Hos 11:10Jer 4:7Job 1:19Job 27:14-15Job 38:39 +4

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 Now a word came to me secretly; ‡ Job 26:141Co 13:12Psa 62:11

my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 In disquieting visions in the night, ‡ Job 33:14-16Gen 2:21Dan 10:9Dan 2:19Dan 2:28-29Dan 4:5Dan 8:18Gen 15:12 +6

when deep sleep falls on men,

14 fear and trembling came over me ‡ Job 33:19Rev 1:17Dan 10:11Hab 3:16Isa 6:5Job 7:14Luk 1:12Luk 1:29 +1

and made all my bones shudder.

15 Then a spirit ¹glided past my face, ‡ Heb 1:7Dan 5:6Luk 24:37-39Psa 104:4Isa 13:8Isa 21:3-4Heb 1:14Mat 14:26

and the hair on my body bristled.

16 It stood still, ‡ 1Ki 19:12

but I could not discern its appearance;

a form loomed before my eyes,

and I heard a whispering voice:

17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, ‡ Job 9:2Job 25:4Ecc 7:20Psa 143:2Jer 17:9Rom 11:33Jer 12:1Job 15:14 +13

or a man more pure than his Maker?

18 If God puts no trust in His servants, ‡ 2Pe 2:4Job 25:5-6Jud 1:6Job 15:15-16Psa 103:20-21Psa 104:4Isa 6:2-3

and He charges His angels with error,

19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, ‡ Job 10:9Gen 2:7Gen 3:19Job 33:62Co 4:72Co 5:1Gen 18:27Job 13:12 +9

whose foundations are in the dust,

who can be crushed like a moth!

20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; ‡ Job 20:72Ch 15:62Ch 21:20Isa 38:12-13Job 14:14Job 14:2Job 14:20Job 16:22 +6

unnoticed, they perish forever.

21 Are not their tent cords pulled up, ‡ Job 36:12Job 8:22Luk 16:22-23Psa 39:11Isa 14:16Isa 2:22Jas 1:11Job 18:21 +5

so that they die without wisdom?’