1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said,

2 If a man tries to converse with thee, will thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

3 Behold, thou have instructed many, and thou have strengthened the weak hands.

4 Thy words have upheld him who was falling, and thou have made firm the feeble knees.

5 But now it comes to thee, and thou faint. It touches thee, and thou are troubled.

6 Is not thy fear of God thy confidence, the integrity of thy ways thy hope?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

8 According as I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.

9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast 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 whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.

13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

14 fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

16 It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?

18 Behold, he puts no trust in his servants, and he charges his agents with folly.

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 destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.

21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.