- 4Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2If we attempt to speak with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? 3Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. 4Your words have upheld him that was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees. 5But now it has come upon you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled. 6Is not this your fear, your confidence, your hope, and the uprightness of your ways?
- 7Remember, I pray you: who perished, being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? 8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. 9By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. 10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. 11The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
- 12Now a thing was secretly brought to me and my ear received a little thereof. 13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14fear came upon me, and trembling which made all my bones to shake. 15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. 16It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, 17Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? 18Behold, he put no trust in his servants, and his angels he charged with folly. 19How much less them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! 20They are destroyed from morning to evening. They perish for ever without any regarding it. 21Does not their excellence in them go away? They die even without wisdom.
- 5Call now, if there be any that will answer you; and to which of the saints will you turn? 2For wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one. 3I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. 4His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them 5whose harvest the hungry eats up and takes it even out of the thorns; and the robber swallows up their substance. 6Although affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground. 7Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.
- 8I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause, 9who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number; 10who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields; 11to set up on high those that be low, that those who mourn may be exalted to safety. 12He disappoints the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. 14They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. 15But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. 16So the poor has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth.
- 17Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty. 18For he makes sore, and binds up; he wounds, and his hands make whole. 19He shall deliver you in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch you. 20In famine he shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 21You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth; 23for you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 24And you shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace, and you shall visit your habitation and shall not sin. 25You shall know also that your seed shall be great, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. 26You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in in his season.
- 27Behold this, we have examined it, so it is. Hear it and know it for your good.
- 6But Job answered and said, 2Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together, 3for now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words are swallowed up. 4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinks up my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. 5Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Or lows the ox over his fodder? 6Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful food.
- 8Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for, 9even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off. 10Then should I yet have comfort, yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. Let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
- 11What is my strength, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? 12Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? 13Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me?
- 14To him that is afflicted, pity should be shown from his friend, but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away, 16which are darkened by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hidden. 17When they wax warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 18The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing and perish. 19The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. 20They were confounded because they had hoped; they came there and were ashamed. 21For now you are nothing; you see my casting down and are afraid. 22Did I say, Bring unto me? Or, Give a reward for me of your substance? 23Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
- 24Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25How forcible are right words! But what does your arguing prove? 26Do you imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, as wind? 27Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend.
- 28Now therefore be content; look upon me, for it is evident unto you if I lie. 29Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in me. 30Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?
- 7Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired hand? 2As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as a hired hand looks for the reward of his work, 3so am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 4When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
- 5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin has broken and become loathsome. 6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and are spent without hope. 7O remember that my life is wind. My eye shall no more see good. 8The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more; your eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more. 10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him anymore.
- 11Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12Am I a sea, or a whale, that you set a watch over me? 13When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint — 14then you scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions, 15so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my life. 16I loathe it. I would not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity.
- 17What is man that you should magnify him? And that you should set your heart upon him? 18And that you should visit him every morning and try him every moment? 19How long will you not depart from me, nor let me alone until I swallow down my spittle? 20I have sinned. What shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? Why have you set me as a mark against you so that I am a burden to myself? 21And why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust, and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Chapter 3