New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:
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Then Eliphaz, a native of Teman, responded:
2 “Will you be patient and let me say a word? For who could keep from speaking out?
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If one tries to answer you, will you be annoyed? But who can hold words back?
3 “In the past you have encouraged many people; you have strengthened those who were weak.
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Look, you've instructed many and given strength to drooping hands.
4 Your words have supported those who were falling; you encouraged those with shaky knees.
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Your words have raised up the falling; you've steadied failing knees.
5 But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart. You are terrified when it touches you.
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But now it comes to you, and you are dismayed; it has struck you, and you are frightened.
6 Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence? Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?
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Isn't your religion the source of your confidence; the integrity of your conduct, the source of your hope?
7 “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?
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Think! What innocent person has ever perished? When have those who do the right thing been destroyed?
8 My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
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As I've observed, those who plow sin and sow trouble will harvest it.
9 A breath from God destroys them. They vanish in a blast of his anger.
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When God breathes deeply, they perish; by a breath of his nostril they are annihilated.
10 The lion roars and the wildcat snarls, but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
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The roar of a lion and snarl of the king of beasts— yet the teeth of lions are shattered;
11 The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.
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the lion perishes without prey, and its cubs are scattered.
12 “This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear.
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But a word sneaked up on me; my ears caught a hint of it.
13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep.
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In profound thoughts, visions of night, when deep sleep falls on people,
14 Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled.
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fear and dread struck me; all of my bones shook.
15 A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end.
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A breeze swept by my face; the hair of my skin bristled.
16 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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It stopped. I didn't recognize its visible form, although a figure was in front of my eyes. Silence! Then I heard a voice:
17 ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’
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"Can a human be more righteous than God, a person purer than their maker?"
18 “If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
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If he doesn't trust his servants and levels a charge against his messengers,
19 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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how much less those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in dust, and who are crushed like a moth?
20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace.
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They are smashed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone knowing.
21 Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.
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Isn't their tent cord pulled up? They die without wisdom.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible