1 ויען אליפז התימני ויאמר | 1 But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said: |
2 הנסה דבר אליך תלאה ועצר במלין מי יוכל | 2 If we start to speak to you, perhaps you will take it badly, but who can hold back the words he has conceived? |
3 הנה יסרת רבים וידים רפות תחזק | 3 Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weary hands. |
4 כושל יקימון מליך וברכים כרעות תאמץ | 4 Your words have reassured the wavering, and you have fortified the trembling knees. |
5 כי עתה תבוא אליך ותלא תגע עדיך ותבהל | 5 But now the scourge has overcome you, and you falter. It has touched you, and you are disturbed. |
6 הלא יראתך כסלתך תקותך ותם דרכיך | 6 Where is your reverence, your fortitude, your patience, and the perfection of your ways? |
7 זכר נא מי הוא נקי אבד ואיפה ישרים נכחדו | 7 Consider this, I beg you: who ever perished being innocent? Or when have the righteous been destroyed? |
8 כאשר ראיתי חרשי און וזרעי עמל יקצרהו | 8 In fact, I have instead seen those who work iniquity and who sow resentments, reap them, |
9 מנשמת אלוה יאבדו ומרוח אפו יכלו | 9 perishing by the breath of God, and being consumed by the wrath of his spirit. |
10 שאגת אריה וקול שחל ושני כפירים נתעו | 10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of young lions have been worn away. |
11 ליש אבד מבלי טרף ובני לביא יתפרדו | 11 The tiger has perished because it does not have prey, and the young lions have been scattered. |
12 ואלי דבר יגנב ותקח אזני שמץ מנהו | 12 Furthermore, a word was spoken to me in secret, and, as if by theft, my ears received the pulse of its whisper. |
13 בשעפים מחזינות לילה בנפל תרדמה על אנשים | 13 In the horror of a vision by night, when men are accustomed to be overtaken by a deep sleep, |
14 פחד קראני ורעדה ורב עצמותי הפחיד | 14 fear and trembling seized me and all my bones were terrified. |
15 ורוח על פני יחלף תסמר שערת בשרי | 15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair on my body stood up. |
16 יעמד ולא אכיר מראהו תמונה לנגד עיני דממה וקול אשמע | 16 There appeared an image before my eyes, someone whose face I did not recognize, and I heard a voice like a gentle breeze. |
17 האנוש מאלוה יצדק אם מעשהו יטהר גבר | 17 Should man be justified in relation to God, or will a man be more pure than his Maker? |
18 הן בעבדיו לא יאמין ובמלאכיו ישים תהלה | 18 Behold, those who serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he finds imperfection. |
19 אף שכני בתי חמר אשר בעפר יסודם ידכאום לפני עש | 19 How much more will those who live in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundation, be consumed like the moth? |
20 מבקר לערב יכתו מבלי משים לנצח יאבדו | 20 From morning all the way to evening, they will be cut down, and because no one understands, they will be destroyed without ceasing. |
21 הלא נסע יתרם בם ימותו ולא בחכמה | 21 But those who are left behind will be taken away from them; they will die, and not in wisdom. |