Job 4:1–5:8

Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:

2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?

3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:

4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:

5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?

8 On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,

9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.

10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:

11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.

12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.

13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,

14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:

15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.

16 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind.

17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?

18 Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:

19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?

20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.

21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.

Chapter 5

Call now, if there be any that will answer thee, and turn to some of the saints.

2 Anger indeed killeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the little one.

3 I have seen a fool with a strong root, and I cursed his beauty immediately.

4 His children shall be far from safety, and shall be destroyed in the gate, and there shall be none to deliver them.

5 Whose harvest the hungry shall eat, and the armed man shall take him by violence, and the thirsty shall drink up his riches.

6 Nothing upon earth is done without a cause, and sorrow doth not spring out of the ground.

7 Man is born to labour, and the bird to fly.

8 Wherefore I will pray to the Lord, and address my speech to God: