[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: [2] "If one attempts a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking? [3] Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. [4] Your words have raised up him who was falling, and you have fortified the feeble knees. [5] But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; it reaches even you, and you are terrified. [6] Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? [7] "Remember now, who being innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright ever wiped out? [8] Just like I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble, reap the same. [9] By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are destroyed. [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 perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. [12] "Now a word was brought to me secretly, and my ear received a whisper of it. [13] Amid disquieting thoughts from night visions, when deep sleep falls on mortals, [14] terror and trembling came to me, which made all my bones shake. [15] A breath of wind was passing before my face, and the hair on my body was standing up. [16] It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form was in front of my eyes, there was stillness, then I heard a voice saying: [17] 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? [18] He does not trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error; [19] Even more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth. [20] They are broken in pieces from morning to evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. [21] Are not their tent ropes plucked up, so they die, even without wisdom?'
