Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 Job, will you be annoyed if I speak?
1
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2 I can't keep quiet any longer.
2
"If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3 You have taught many people and given strength to feeble hands.
3
Behold, you have instructed many, You have strengthened the weak hands.
4 When someone stumbled, weak and tired, your words encouraged him to stand.
4
Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.
5 Now it's your turn to be in trouble, and you are too stunned to face it.
5
But now it is come to you, and you faint; It touches you, and you are troubled.
6 You worshiped God, and your life was blameless; and so you should have confidence and hope.
6
Isn't your piety your confidence, The integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.
7
"Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
8 I have seen people plow fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed; now they harvest wickedness and evil.
8
According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, Reap the same.
9 Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger.
9
By the breath of God they perish, By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
10 The wicked roar and growl like lions, but God silences them and breaks their teeth.
10
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, The teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 Like lions with nothing to kill and eat, they die, and all their children are scattered.
11
The old lion perishes for lack of prey, The whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12 Once a message came quietly, so quietly I could hardly hear it.
12
"Now a thing was secretly brought to me, My ear received a whisper of it.
13 Like a nightmare it disturbed my sleep.
13
In thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
14 I trembled and shuddered; my whole body shook with fear.
14
Fear came on me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.
15 A light breeze touched my face, and my skin crawled with fright.
15
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
16 I could see something standing there; I stared, but couldn't tell what it was. Then I heard a voice out of the silence:
16
It stood still, but I couldn't discern the appearance of it; A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
17 "Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or be pure before his Creator?
17
'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 God does not trust his heavenly servants; he finds fault even with his angels.
18
Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
19 Do you think he will trust a creature of clay, a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?
19
How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!
20 We may be alive in the morning, but die unnoticed before evening comes.
20
Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
21 All that we have is taken away; we die, still lacking wisdom."
21
Isn't their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.'
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.