Job 4–5

Eliphaz Speaks

4Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“If someone tried to speak with you, would you be upset?

I cannot keep from speaking.

³Think about the many people you have taught

and the weak hands you have made strong.

⁴Your words have comforted those who fell,

and you have strengthened those who could not stand.

⁵But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

trouble hits you, and you are terrified.

⁶You should have confidence because you respect God;

you should have hope because you are innocent.

⁷“Remember that the innocent will not die;

honest people will never be destroyed.

⁸I have noticed that people who plow evil

and plant trouble, harvest it.

⁹God’s breath destroys them,

and a blast of his anger kills them.

¹⁰Lions may roar and growl,

but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,

¹¹that lion dies of hunger.

The cubs of the mother lion are scattered.

¹²“A word was brought to me in secret,

and my ears heard a whisper of it.

¹³It was during a nightmare

when people are in deep sleep.

¹⁴I was trembling with fear;

all my bones were shaking.

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face,

and the hair on my body stood on end.

¹⁶The spirit stopped,

but I could not see what it was.

A shape stood before my eyes,

and I heard a quiet voice.

¹⁷It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?

Can a person be pure before his maker?

¹⁸God does not trust his angels;

he blames them for mistakes.

¹⁹So he puts even more blame on people who live in clay houses, ⁿ

whose foundations are made of dust,

who can be crushed like a moth.

²⁰Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces;

without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.

²¹The ropes of their tents are pulled up,

and they die without wisdom.’

5“Call if you want to, Job, but no one will answer you.

You can’t turn to any of the holy ones.

²Anger kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the stupid.

³I have seen a fool succeed,

but I cursed his home immediately.

⁴His children are far from safety

and are crushed in court with no defense.

⁵The hungry eat his harvest,

even taking what grew among the thorns,

and thirsty people want his wealth.

⁶Hard times do not come up from the ground,

and trouble does not grow from the earth.

⁷People produce trouble

as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“But if I were you, I would call on God

and bring my problem before him.

⁹God does wonders that cannot be understood;

he does so many miracles they cannot be counted.

¹⁰He gives rain to the earth

and sends water on the fields.

¹¹He makes the humble person important

and lifts the sad to places of safety.

¹²He ruins the plans of those who trick others

so they have no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their own clever traps

and sweeps away the plans of those who try to trick others.

¹⁴Darkness covers them up in the daytime;

even at noon they feel around in the dark.

¹⁵God saves the needy from their lies

and from the harm done by powerful people.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

while those who are unfair are silenced.

¹⁷“The one whom God corrects is happy,

so do not hate being corrected by the Almighty.

¹⁸God hurts, but he also bandages up;

he injures, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹He will save you from six troubles;

even seven troubles will not harm you.

²⁰God will buy you back from death in times of hunger,

and in battle he will save you from the sword.

²¹You will be protected from the tongue that strikes like a whip,

and you will not be afraid when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and hunger,

and you will not fear the wild animals,

²³because you will have an agreement with the stones in the field,

and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is safe,

because you will check the things you own and find nothing missing.

²⁵You will know that you will have many children,

and your descendants will be like the grass on the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave with all your strength,

like bundles of grain gathered at the right time.

²⁷“We have checked this, and it is true,

so hear it and decide what it means to you.”