1 Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered and said,
2 If we attempt to commune with thee, thou wilt be grieved. But who can withhold himself from speaking? 3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 4 Thy words have upheld the one that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5 But now that it is come upon thee, thou art grieved; it touches thee, and thou art troubled. 6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the integrity of thy ways?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? 8 Even as I have seen, those that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the spirit of his anger they are consumed. 10 The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
12 Now the matter was also hidden from me, but my ear has perceived a little of it. 13 In imaginations of visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, 14 fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before me which caused the hair of my flesh to stand up. 16 A ghost stood in front of me, whose face I did not recognize, and I heard it say, 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18 Behold, he put no trust in his slaves, and his angels he charged with folly. 19 How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who shall be crushed by the moth! 20 They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish for ever without anyone regarding it. 21 Does their beauty perish with them? They die and do not know.
1 Call now, if there shall be anyone to answer thee; and if there shall be any of the saints for thee to look unto? 2 It is certain that wrath kills the foolish man, and envy consumes the covetous one. 3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but at the same time I cursed his habitation. 4 His sons are far from saving health, and they shall be crushed in the gate, and there shall be no one to deliver them. 5 The hungry shall eat up his harvest, and even take it out from among the thorns, and the thirsty shall drink up their substance. 6 For the iniquity does not come forth out of the dust; neither does chastisement spring up out of the ground; 7 yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8 I would certainly seek God, and unto God would I commit my affairs; 9 who does great things that no one can understand, and marvels that have no explanation; 10 who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters abroad; 11 who sets up the humble on high, that those who mourn may be lifted up with saving health. 12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13 He takes the wise in their own prudence, and the counsel of his adversaries is turned to folly. 14 They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night. 15 But he saves the poor from the sword, from the mouth of the wicked, and from the hand of the violent. 16 Who is the hope of the poor, and iniquity closes her mouth.
17 Behold, blessed is the man whom God chastens; therefore, do not despise not the correction of the Almighty. 18 For he makes sore, and binds up; he wounds, and his hands make whole. 19 He shall deliver thee in six tribulations, and in the seventh no evil shall touch thee. 20 In famine he shall ransom thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth; 23 for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24 And thou shalt know that there is peace in thy tent, and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin. 25 Thou shalt know that thy seed is great and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of wheat that is gathered in its season. 27 Behold that which we have searched out, so it is; hear it and judge it for thyself.