Eliphaz tries to comfort Job
1 Then Eliphaz, a native of Teman, responded:
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If one tries to answer you, will you be annoyed? But who can hold words back?
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Look, you've instructed many and given strength to drooping hands.
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Your words have raised up the falling; you've steadied failing knees.
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But now it comes to you, and you are dismayed; it has struck you, and you are frightened.
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Isn't your religion the source of your confidence; the integrity of your conduct, the source of your hope?
Sinners don’t live long
7 Think! What innocent person has ever perished? When have those who do the right thing been destroyed?
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As I've observed, those who plow sin and sow trouble will harvest it.
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When God breathes deeply, they perish; by a breath of his nostril they are annihilated.
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The roar of a lion and snarl of the king of beasts— yet the teeth of lions are shattered;
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the lion perishes without prey, and its cubs are scattered.
A frightening dream
12 But a word sneaked up on me; my ears caught a hint of it.
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In profound thoughts, visions of night, when deep sleep falls on people,
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fear and dread struck me; all of my bones shook.
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A breeze swept by my face; the hair of my skin bristled.
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It stopped. I didn't recognize its visible form, although a figure was in front of my eyes. Silence! Then I heard a voice:
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"Can a human be more righteous than God, a person purer than their maker?"
Its interpretation
18 If he doesn't trust his servants and levels a charge against his messengers,
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how much less those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in dust, and who are crushed like a moth?
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They are smashed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone knowing.
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Isn't their tent cord pulled up? They die without wisdom.