1: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2: If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
3: Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4: Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
5: But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6: Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
7: Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
8: Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
9: By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
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 perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
12: Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
13: In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
14: Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15: Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
16: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
17: Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18: Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
19: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
20: They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21: Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. |