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Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:
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“Will you be patient and let me say a word?
For who could keep from speaking out?
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“In the past you have encouraged many people;
you have strengthened those who were weak.
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Your words have supported those who were falling;
you encouraged those with shaky knees.
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But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.
You are terrified when it touches you.
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Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?
Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?
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“Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
When have the upright been destroyed?
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My experience shows that those who plant trouble
and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
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A breath from God destroys them.
They vanish in a blast of his anger.
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The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,
but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
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The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.
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“This truth was given to me in secret,
as though whispered in my ear.
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It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,
when people are in a deep sleep.
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Fear gripped me,
and my bones trembled.
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A spirit 1 swept past my face,
and my hair stood on end. 2
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The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.
There was a form before my eyes.
In the silence I heard a voice say,
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‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?
Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’
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“If God does not trust his own angels
and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
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how much less will he trust people made of clay!
They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
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They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,
gone forever without a trace.
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Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,
and they die in ignorance.
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“Cry for help, but will anyone answer you?
Which of the angels 3 will help you?
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Surely resentment destroys the fool,
and jealousy kills the simple.
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I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment,
but then comes sudden disaster.
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Their children are abandoned far from help;
they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.
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The hungry devour their harvest,
even when it is guarded by brambles. 4
The thirsty pant after their wealth.
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But evil does not spring from the soil,
and trouble does not sprout from the earth.
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People are born for trouble
as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.
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“If I were you, I would go to God
and present my case to him.
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He does great things too marvelous to understand.
He performs countless miracles.
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He gives rain for the earth
and water for the fields.
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He gives prosperity to the poor
and protects those who suffer.
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He frustrates the plans of schemers
so the work of their hands will not succeed.
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He traps the wise in their own cleverness
so their cunning schemes are thwarted.
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They find it is dark in the daytime,
and they grope at noon as if it were night.
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He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong,
and rescues them from the clutches of the powerful.
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And so at last the poor have hope,
and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.
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“But consider the joy of those corrected by God!
Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.
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For though he wounds, he also bandages.
He strikes, but his hands also heal.
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From six disasters he will rescue you;
even in the seventh, he will keep you from evil.
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He will save you from death in time of famine,
from the power of the sword in time of war.
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You will be safe from slander
and have no fear when destruction comes.
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You will laugh at destruction and famine;
wild animals will not terrify you.
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You will be at peace with the stones of the field,
and its wild animals will be at peace with you.
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You will know that your home is safe.
When you survey your possessions, nothing will be missing.
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You will have many children;
your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!
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You will go to the grave at a ripe old age,
like a sheaf of grain harvested at the proper time!
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“We have studied life and found all this to be true.
Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.”