Eliphaz: the Innocent Don’t Suffer
4 In reply, Eliphaz from Teman answered:
2 “Will you get offended if somebody tries to talk to you?
Who can keep from speaking at a time like this?[a]
3 Look! You’ve admonished many people,[b]
and you’ve strengthened feeble hands.
4 A word from you has supported those who have stumbled,
and has strengthened faltering knees.
5 “But now it’s your turn,
and you’re the one who is worn out![c]
Now it’s striking you,
and you’re dismayed!
6 “Your fear of God has been your confidence, hasn’t it?
The integrity of your life has been your hope, hasn’t it?
7 Now please think:
Who has ever perished when they’re innocent?
Where have the upright been destroyed?
8 It’s been my experience that those who plow the soil of[d] iniquity
and those who sow the seed of[e] trouble will reap their harvest![f]
9 They perish by the breath of God;
they are consumed by the storm that is[g] his anger.[h]
10 “The lioness may roar,
and the lion cub may growl;
but even the ivory teeth of the full grown lion are broken.
11 Full grown lions die when they cannot find prey;
that’s when the lion cubs are scattered.
12 “A message was confided[i] to me;
my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 Disquieting thoughts from dreams at night;
when deep sleep falls on everyone.[j]
14 A fear fell upon me, along with trembling
that caused all my bones to shake in terror.[k]
15 A spirit glided past me
and made the hair on my skin[l] to bristle.
16 It remained standing,
but I couldn’t recognize its appearance.
A form appeared before my eyes;
At first there was[m] silence, and then this voice:
17 ‘Can a mortal person[n] be more righteous than God?
Or can the purity of the valiant exceed that of his maker?’[o]
18 “Indeed, since he doesn’t trust his servants,[p]
since he charges[q] his angels with error,
19 how much less confidence[r] does he have
in those who dwell in houses of clay;
who were formed from a foundation in dust
and can perish[s] like a moth?
20 They are defeated between morning and evening;
they perish forever—and no one notices!
21 Their wealth[t] perishes with them, doesn’t it?
They die, and do so without having wisdom, don’t they?”
Footnotes
- Job 4:2 The Heb. lacks at a time like this
- Job 4:3 The Heb. lacks people
- Job 4:5 Or impatient
- Job 4:8 The Heb. lacks the soil of
- Job 4:8 The Heb. lacks the seed of
- Job 4:8 The Heb. lacks their harvest
- Job 4:9 Or the breath of
- Job 4:9 Or anger
- Job 4:12 Or was delivered in secret
- Job 4:13 Lit. men
- Job 4:14 Or dread
- Job 4:15 Lit. flesh
- Job 4:16 The Heb. lacks At first there was
- Job 4:17 Lit. a man
- Job 4:17 The quotation possibly continues through v 21.
- Job 4:18 Cf. Job 15:15
- Job 4:18 Or lay upon
- Job 4:19 The Heb. lacks confidence
- Job 4:19 Lit. can crush them
- Job 4:21 Or remnants, left over