Job 4

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:	1 Then spoke Eliphaz the Temanite, who said:
2 If we say something to you, wil you bear with us? Who in any case could refrain from speaking now?	2 If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind? For how can anyone refrain from speaking?
3 You have schooled many others, giving strength to feeble hands;	3 Behold, you have instructed many, and have made firm their feeble hands.
4 your words supported any who wavered and strengthened every failing knee.	4 Your words have upheld the stumbler; you have strengthened his faltering knees.
5 And now your turn has come, and you lose patience, at the first touch on yourself you are overwhelmed!	5 But now that it comes to you, you are impatient; when it touches yourself, you are dismayed.
6 Does not your piety give you confidence, and your integrity of life give you hope?	6 Is not your piety a source of confidence, and your integrity of life your hope?
7 Can you recal anyone guiltless that perished? Where then have the honest been wiped out?	7 Reflect now, what innocent person perishes? Since when are the upright destroyed?
8 I speak from experience: those who plough iniquity and sow disaster, reap just that.	8 As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same.
9 Under the breath of God, they perish: a blast of his anger, and they are destroyed;	9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.
10 the lion's roars, his savage growls, like the fangs of a lion cub, are broken off.	10 Though the lion roars, though the king of beasts cries out, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;
11 The lion dies for lack of prey and the lioness's whelps are dispersed.	11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 I have received a secret revelation, a whisper has come to my ears;	12 For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 by night when dreams confuse the mind and slumber lies heavy on everyone,	13 In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 a shiver of horror ran through me and fil ed al my bones with fright.	14 Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones.
15 A breath slid over my face, the hairs of my body bristled.	15 Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 Someone stood there -- I did not know his face, but the form stayed there before my eyes. Silence --then I heard a voice,	16 It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice:
17 'Can a mortal seem upright to God, would anybody seem pure in the presence of his Maker?	17 "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker?
18 God cannot rely even on his own servants, even with his angels he finds fault.	18 Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault.
19 What then of those who live in houses of clay, who are founded on dust?	19 How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth!
20 They are crushed as easily as a moth, between morning and evening they are ground to powder. Theyvanish for ever, with no one to bring them back.	20 Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever.
21 Their tent-peg is snatched from them, and they die devoid of wisdom.'	21 The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom."