Job 4–5

4Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

²If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?

But who can withhold himself from speaking?

³Behold, thou hast instructed many,

And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

⁴Thy words have upholden him that was falling,

And thou hast made firm the feeble knees.

⁵But now it is come unto thee, and thou faintest;

It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

⁶Is not thy fear of God thy confidence,

And the integrity of thy ways thy hope?

⁷Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?

Or where were the upright cut off?

⁸According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,

And sow trouble, reap the same.

⁹By the breath of God they perish,

And by the blast of his anger 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 perisheth for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

¹²Now a thing was secretly brought to me,

And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night,

When deep sleep falleth 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 appearance thereof;

A form was before mine 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 putteth no trust in his servants;

And his angels he chargeth with folly:

¹⁹How much more them that dwell in houses of clay,

Whose foundation is in the dust,

Who are crushed before the moth!

²⁰Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed:

They perish for ever without any regarding it.

²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?

They die, and that without wisdom.

5Call now; is there any that will answer thee?

And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

²For vexation killeth the foolish man,

And jealousy slayeth 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 eateth up,

And taketh it even out of the thorns;

And the snare gapeth for their substance.

⁶For affliction cometh not forth from the dust,

Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

⁷But man is born unto trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.

⁸But as for me, I would seek unto God,

And unto God would I commit my cause;

⁹Who doeth great things and unsearchable,

Marvellous things without number:

¹⁰Who giveth rain upon the earth,

And sendeth waters upon the fields;

¹¹So that he setteth up on high those that are low,

And those that mourn are exalted to safety.

¹²He frustrateth the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

¹³He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;

And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the day-time,

And grope at noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he saveth from the sword of their mouth,

Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor hath hope,

And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:

Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he maketh sore, and bindeth up;

He woundeth, and his hands make whole.

¹⁹He will deliver thee in six troubles;

Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

²⁰In famine he will redeem thee from death;

And in war from the power of the sword.

²¹Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;

Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

²²At destruction and dearth thou shalt laugh;

Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

²³For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field;

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

²⁴And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace;

And thou shalt visit thy fold, and shalt miss nothing.

²⁵Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great,

And thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age,

Like as a shock of grain cometh in in its season.

²⁷Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;

Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.