Job 4:1–11

Eliphaz Speaks:

Be Patient and Listen, Job

¹Then Eliphaz from Teman replied ⸤to Job⸥, 

²“If someone tries to talk to you, will you become impatient? 

But who can keep from talking? 

³Certainly, you have instructed many people: 

When hands were weak, you made them strong. 

⁴When someone stumbled, you lifted him up with your words. 

When knees were weak, you gave them strength. 

⁵But trouble comes to you, and you’re impatient. 

It touches you, and you panic. 

⁶Doesn’t your fear of God give you confidence 

and your lifetime of integrity give you hope? 

Only Evil People Suffer

⁷“Now think about this: 

Which innocent person ⸤ever⸥ died ⸤an untimely death⸥? 

Find me a decent person who has been destroyed. 

⁸Whenever I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery, 

they gathered its harvest. 

⁹God destroys them with his breath 

and kills them with a blast of his anger. 

¹⁰Though the roar of the lion 

and the growl of the ferocious lion ⸤is loud⸥, 

the young lions have had their teeth knocked out. 

¹¹The old lions die without any prey ⸤to eat⸥, 

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.