Job 4:12–5:7

¹²“And a word came stealing to me,

and my ear received the whisper from it.

¹³Amid troubling thoughts from night visions,

at the falling of deep sleep on men,

¹⁴dread met me, and trembling,

and it made many of my bones shake.

¹⁵And a spirit glided before my face;

the hair of my fleshⁱ bristled.

¹⁶It stood still, but^j I could not recognize its appearance;

a form was before^k my eyes;

there was a hush, and I heard a voice:

¹⁷‘Can a human being be more righteous than God,

or can a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸Look, he does not trust in his servants

and he charges his angels with error.

¹⁹How much more dwellers in clay houses,

whose foundation is in the dust?

They are crushed like a moth.

²⁰Between morning and evening^l they are destroyed;

without anyone regarding it they perish forever.

²¹Is not their tent cord pulled up within them?

They die, but^m not inⁿ wisdom.’

Eliphaz’s Response Continues

5“Call now, is there anyone answering you?

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

²For vexation will slay the fool,

and jealousy will kill the simple.

³I have seen a fool taking root,

but^a suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

⁴His children are far from deliverance,

and they are crushed in the gate,

and there is no deliverer—

⁵whose harvest the hungry eats,

and he takes it from behind^b the thorns;

and the thirsty pants after their wealth.

⁶Indeed,^c mischief does not come from the dust,

and trouble does not sprout from the earth.

⁷But a human being is born to trouble,

and they soar aloft^d like sparks.^e