Job / Eliphaz's Accusation and Counsel

Eliphaz's Accusation and Counsel

Job 4:1-5:27

Chapter 4

¹ Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said. ² Have you tried a word with you? It wearies. And to refrain from words—who can? ³ Behold, you have disciplined many, and you will strengthen limp hands. ⁴ You will raise up the stumblers, and you will strengthen the knees that are weak. ⁵ For now it comes to you, and you hang and it touches your pains, and you are dismayed. ⁶ Is not your fear of the Lord your folly, your hope, and the innocence of your ways? ⁷ Remember now: who is the innocent who has perished? And where have the upright been destroyed? ⁸ As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow toil reap it. ⁹ By the breath of God they perish, and by the spirit of his nostrils they are consumed. ¹⁰ The roaring of a lion and the voice of a shachal and the teeth of kepirim have vanished. ¹¹ The lion perishes without prey, and the sons of the lioness are scattered. ¹² A word was stolen toward me, and my ear took a fragment from it. ¹³ In abounding visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon people. ¹⁴ Fear came upon me, and trembling, and many of my bones were terrified. ¹⁵ And a spirit glides over my face; the hair of my flesh stands on end. ¹⁶ It stands, but I do not recognize its appearance—a form before my eyes. There is silence, and then a voice I hear. ¹⁷ Shall a mortal be righteous from God? If he is purified—man. ¹⁸ Behold, he does not trust his servants, and he charges his angels with error. ¹⁹ Indeed, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in dust—he crushes them like a moth. ²⁰ From morning to evening they are crushed; without anyone noticing, they perish forever. ²¹ Does not their superiority depart from them? They die, and not in wisdom.

Chapter 5

¹ Call now. Is there anyone to help with your iniquity? And to whom among the holy ones will you turn? ² For it kills the fool—like a moth—and jealousy destroys the naive one. ³ I saw a fool taking root, and I suddenly cursed his cosmic resting place. ⁴ His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer. ⁵ whose harvest a hungry one eats, and he takes it toward snares, and thirsty ones pant for their strength. ⁶ For iniquity does not come forth from dust, and toil does not sprout from the ground. ⁷ For man is born to toil, and the sons of Resheph soar up like birds. ⁸ But I would seek God, and to God I would set my cause. ⁹ doing great things, and there is no searching them out, wonders without number. ¹⁰ the one who gives rain upon the face of the earth and sends waters upon the face of the streets ¹¹ to set the lowly on high and those who mourn he exalts to salvation ¹² He frustrates the thoughts of the naked ones, and their hands do not make success. ¹³ He snares the wise in their craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is hastened. ¹⁴ By day they meet darkness, and in full light they grope at noon. ¹⁵ And he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the strong. ¹⁶ So there is hope for the poor, and injustice shuts its mouth. ¹⁷ Behold, blessed is the man whom God rebukes; do not reject the discipline of Shaddai. ¹⁸ For he causes pain and binds up; he crushes, and his hands heal. ¹⁹ In six distresses he will deliver you, and in seven no evil will touch you. ²⁰ In famine he redeems you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹ You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue and not fear devastation when it comes. ²² At destruction and plundering you will laugh, and you will not fear the living creatures of the earth. ²³ For you have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field have been reconciled to you. ²⁴ And you will know that peace is for your tent, and you will visit your fold, and you will not sin. ²⁵ You will know that your offspring are many and your descendants like the grass of the earth. ²⁶ You come in full vigor to the grave in full strength like the going up of a stack in its time. ²⁷ Behold, this we have investigated. In this way it is. Hear it, and you know—for yourself.