1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 "If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?

3 Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.

4 Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.

5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

7 "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.

9 At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more.

10 The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

11 The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 "A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.

13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people,

14 fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.

15 A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

16 It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:

17 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?

18 If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,

19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!

20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.

21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?'

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2 If we assay to commune with you, will you be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

4 Your words have upheld him that was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

5 But now it is come on you, and you faint; it touches you, and you are troubled.

6 Is not this your fear, your confidence, your hope, and the uprightness of your ways?

7 Remember, I pray you, 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 perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion' whelps are scattered abroad.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a little thereof.

13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14 Fear came on 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 my 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 Does not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.