1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can restrain words?
3 Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.
5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?
8 Even 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 breath of His nostrils they are destroyed.
10 The roaring of the lion, 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 cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 Now a word was brought to me by stealth, and my ear received a whisper of it.
13 In the uncertainties from the visions of the night, when a man falls into deep sleep,
14 fear and trembling befell me, which made all my bones dread.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes in silence; then I heard a voice saying:
17 Is mortal man more righteous than God? Is a strong man more pure than his Maker?
18 Behold He puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error;
19 even more so those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the grass!
20 They are crushed from morning till evening; they perish forever, with no one regarding.
21 Is not their own excellence within them removed? They die, even without wisdom.