Eliphaz: Innocent Do Not Suffer
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
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“If we dare to converse with you, will you be impatient [or offended]?
But who can restrain himself from speaking?
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“Behold, you have admonished and instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
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“Your words have helped the one who was stumbling to stand,
And you have strengthened feeble knees.
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“But now [a]adversity comes upon you, and you are impatient and intolerant;
It touches you, and you are horrified.
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“Is not your fear of God your confidence,
And [is not] the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?
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“Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished?
Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?
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“As I have seen, those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.
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“By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
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“The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken.
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“The lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
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“Now a word was secretly brought to me,
And my ear received a whisper of it.
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“Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
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Dread and trembling came upon me,
Which made all my bones shake.
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“Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair on my skin stood on end!
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“The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance;
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying:
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‘Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He?
Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?(A)
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‘God puts no trust or confidence, even in His [heavenly] servants,
And He charges His angels with error.
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‘How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.
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‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces and destroyed;
Unobserved and unnoticed, they perish forever.
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‘Is not their tent-cord drawn up within them [so that the tent collapses]?
Do they not die, and yet without [acquiring] wisdom?’
Footnotes
- Job 4:5 Lit it.