Eliphaz tries to comfort Job

¹Then Eliphaz, a native of Teman, responded:

²If one tries to answer you, will you be annoyed?

But who can hold words back?

³Look, you’ve instructed many

and given strength to drooping hands.

⁴Your words have raised up the falling;

you’ve steadied failing knees.

⁵But now it comes to you, and you are dismayed;

it has struck you, and you are frightened.

⁶Isn’t your religion the source of your confidence;[#4.6 Heb lacks .]

the integrity of your conduct, the source of your hope?

Sinners don’t live long

⁷Think! What innocent person has ever perished?

When have those who do the right thing been destroyed?

⁸As I’ve observed, those who plow sin

and sow trouble will harvest it.

⁹When God breathes deeply, they perish;

by a breath of his nostril they are annihilated.

¹⁰The roar of a lion and snarl of the king of beasts—

yet the teeth of lions are shattered;

A frightening dream

¹²But a word sneaked up on me;

my ears caught a hint of it.

¹³In profound thoughts, visions of night,

when deep sleep falls on people,

¹⁵A breeze swept by my face;

the hair of my skin bristled.

¹⁶It stopped. I didn’t recognize its visible form,

although a figure was in front of my eyes.

Silence! Then I heard a voice:

¹⁷“Can a human be more righteous than God,

Its interpretation

¹⁸If he doesn’t trust his servants

¹⁹how much less those who dwell in houses of clay,

²⁰They are smashed between morning and evening;

they perish forever without anyone knowing.

²¹Isn’t their tent cord pulled up?

They die without wisdom.