Job 4

The First Speech of Eliphaz 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied,

2“Job, suppose someone tries to talk to you. Will that make you uneasy? I can’t keep from speaking up.

3Look, you taught many people. You made weak hands strong.

4Your words helped those who had fallen down. You made shaky knees strong.

5Now trouble comes to you. And you are unhappy about it. It strikes you down. And you are afraid.

6Shouldn’t you worship God and trust in him? Shouldn’t your honest life give you hope?

7“Here’s something to think about. Have people who aren’t guilty ever been wiped out? Have honest people ever been completely destroyed?

8Here’s what I’ve observed. People gather a crop from what they plant. If they plant evil and trouble, that’s what they will harvest.

9The breath of God destroys them. The blast of his anger wipes them out.

10Powerful lions might roar and growl. But their teeth are broken.

11Lions die because they don’t have any food. Then their cubs are scattered.

12“A message came to me in secret. It was as quiet as a whisper.

13I had a scary dream one night. I was sound asleep.

14Fear and trembling seized me. That made every bone in my body shake.

15A spirit glided past my face. The hair on my body stood on end.

16Then the spirit stopped. But I couldn’t tell what it was. Something stood there in front of me. I heard a soft voice.

17It said, ‘Can a human being be more right than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than the God who made him?

18God doesn’t trust those who serve him. He even brings charges against his angels.

19So he’ll certainly find fault with human beings. After all, they are made out of dust. They can be crushed more easily than a moth.

20Between sunrise and sunset they are broken to pieces. Nobody even notices. They disappear forever. 21Like a tent that falls down, they get weak. They die because they didn’t follow God’s wisdom.’ ”