Job 4:1-21

4  Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:—  If one attempt a word unto thee wilt thou be impatient? But to restrain speech who can endure?  Lo! thou hast admonished many, And slack hands hast thou been wont to uphold:  Him that was stumbling have thy words raised up, And sinking knees hast thou strengthened.  But now it cometh upon thee And thou despairest, It smiteth even thee, And thou art dismayed.  Is not thy reverence thy confidence? And is not thy hope the very integrity of thy ways?  Remember, I pray thee, who being innocent hath perished, Or when the upright have been cut off.  So far as I have seen They who plow for iniquity And sow misery Reap the same:  By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed: 10  [Notwithstanding] the roaring of the lion and the noise of the howling lion Yet the teeth of the fierce lions are broken: 11  The strong lion perishing for lack of prey Even the whelps of the lioness are scattered. 12  But unto me something was brought by stealth,—And mine ear caught a whispering of the same: 13  When there were thoughts from visions of the night,—When deep sleep falleth upon men 14  Dread came upon me and trembling, The multitude of my bones it put in dread: 15  Then a spirit over my face floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up: 16  It stood still but I could not distinguish its appearance, I looked but there was no form before mine eyes,—A whispering voice I heard:— 17  Shall mortal man be more just than God? Or a man be more pure than his Maker? 18  Lo! in his own servants he trusteth not, And his own messengers he chargeth with error: 19  How much more the dwellers in houses of clay, Which in the dust have their foundation, Which are crushed sooner than a moth: 20  Betwixt morning and evening are they broken in pieces, With none to save they utterly perish: 21  Is not their tent-rope within them torn away? They die, disrobed of wisdom!

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