1: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2: If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? 3: Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 4: Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5: But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6: Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? 7: Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? 8: Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9: By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. 10: The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 11: The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad. 12: Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. 13: In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 14: Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15: Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 17: Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18: Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: 19: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? 20: They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. 21: Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
