1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2“If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3Behold, you have instructed many,
you have strengthened the weak hands.
4Your words have supported him who was falling,
you have made the feeble knees firm.
5But now it has come to you, and you faint.
It touches you, and you are troubled.
6Isn’t your piety your confidence?
Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?
7“Remember, now, who ever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble, reap the same.
9By the breath of God they perish.
By the blast of His anger are they consumed.
10The roaring of the lion,
and the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11The old lion perishes for lack of prey.
The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12“Now a thing was secretly brought to me.
My ear received a whisper of it.
13In thoughts from the visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
14fear came on me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15Then a spirit passed before my face.
The hair of my flesh stood up.
16It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes.
Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
17‘Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
18Behold, He puts no trust in His servants.
He charges His angels with error.
19How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth!
20Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
21Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.’
1Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit: 2Si cœperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies; sed conceptum sermonem tenere quis poterit? 3Ecce docuisti multos, et manus lassas roborasti; 4vacillantes confirmaverunt sermones tui, et genua trementia confortasti. 5Nunc autem venit super te plaga, et defecisti; tetigit te, et conturbatus es. 6Ubi est timor tuus, fortitudo tua, patientia tua, et perfectio viarum tuarum? 7Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt? 8Quin potius vidi eos qui operantur iniquitatem, et seminant dolores, et metunt eos, 9flante Deo perisse, et spiritu iræ ejus esse consumptos. 10Rugitus leonis, et vox leænæ, et dentes catulorum leonum contriti sunt. 11Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt. 12Porro ad me dictum est verbum absconditum, et quasi furtive suscepit auris mea venas susurri ejus. 13In horrore visionis nocturnæ, quando solet sopor occupare homines, 14pavor tenuit me, et tremor, et omnia ossa mea perterrita sunt; 15et cum spiritus, me præsente, transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis meæ. 16Stetit quidam, cujus non agnoscebam vultum, imago coram oculis meis, et vocem quasi auræ lenis audivi. 17Numquid homo, Dei comparatione, justificabitur? aut factore suo purior erit vir? 18Ecce qui serviunt ei, non sunt stabiles, et in angelis suis reperit pravitatem; 19quanto magis hi qui habitant domos luteas, qui terrenum habent fundamentum, consumentur velut a tinea? 20De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur; et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt. 21Qui autem reliqui fuerint, auferentur ex eis; morientur, et non in sapientia.