Eliphaz Begins to Speak99

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:1

4:2 “If someone2 should attempt3 a word with you,

will you be impatient?4

But who can refrain from speaking5?

4:3 Look,6 you have instructed7 many;

you have strengthened8 feeble hands.9

4:4 Your words have supported10 those

who stumbled,11

and you have strengthened the knees

that gave way.12

4:5 But now the same thing13 comes to you,

and you are discouraged;14

it strikes you,

and you are terrified.15

4:6 Is not your piety16 your confidence,17

and your blameless ways your hope?18

4:7 Call to mind now:19

Who,20 being innocent, ever perished?21

And where were upright people22 ever destroyed?23

4:8 Even as I have seen,24 those who plow25 iniquity26

and those who sow trouble reap the same.27

4:9 By the breath28 of God they perish,29

and by the blast30 of his anger they are consumed.

4:10 There is31 the roaring of the lion32

and the growling33 of the young lion,

but the teeth of the young lions are broken.34

4:11 The mighty lion35 perishes36 for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness37 are scattered.