Eliphaz Says the Innocent Do Not Suffer

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“If one tries a word with you, will you become weary?

But who can hold back from speaking?

³“Behold, you have disciplined many,

And you have strengthened limp hands.

⁴“Your words have helped the stumbling to stand,[#4:4 Lit caused]

And you have encouraged feeble knees.

⁵“But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

It touches you, and you are dismayed.

⁶“Is not your fear of God your confidence,[#4:6 Or reverence]

And the integrity of your ways your hope?

⁷¶“Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?

Or where were the upright wiped out?

⁸“According to what I have seen, those who plow wickedness

And those who sow trouble harvest it.

⁹“By the breath of God they perish,

And by the wind of His anger they come to an end.

¹⁰“The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,

And the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹“The lion perishes for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

¹²¶“Now a word was brought to me stealthily,

And my ear received a whisper of it.

¹³“Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴Dread came upon me, and trembling,

And made the multitude of my bones shake in dread.

¹⁵“Then a spirit swept by my face;[#4:15 Or breath passed over]

The hair of my flesh bristled up.

¹⁶“It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance;

A form was before my eyes;

There was silence, then I heard a voice:

¹⁷‘Can mankind be right before God?[#4:17 Lit from]

Can a man be pure before his Maker?

¹⁸‘He puts no trust even in His slaves;

And against His angels He charges error.

¹⁹‘How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,

Whose foundation is in the dust,

Who are crushed before the moth!

²⁰‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces;

Unobserved, they perish forever.

²¹‘Is not their tent-cord pulled up within them?

They die, yet without wisdom.’