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4:1  Standing with Job and his other two friends in the trash heap, Eliphaz the Temanite tried to convince Job his suffering was temporary.
4:2  Eliphaz: Could you bear it if someone were to speak? Ah, but who can hold his tongue in such a situation?
4:3  Look back, and think on the many you have taught; you have strengthened the weak hands of the suffering.
4:4  Your words propped up the tottering; you have strengthened mourners’ wobbly knees.
4:5  May my words help you in that way, now that trouble arrives and you despair. It extends its hand, crushes you, and you are overwhelmed.
4:6  Isn’t your fear of God true confidence and your unswerving commitment genuine hope?
4:7  Take pause; scan your memory: Who ever died among the innocent? And when have the righteous ever met with destruction?
4:8  The way I see it, those who pull the pernicious plow, Who sow sorrow’s seeds, reap the same at harvest.
4:9  By God’s breath, they meet destruction; when His anger explodes, they meet their end.
4:10  O the bluster of humanity! The lion roars! The king of beasts thunders! Still the young lions’ teeth are shattered.
4:11  The old lion dies for lack of prey, and the whole pride is scattered.
4:12  Now, listen: a secret word was delivered to me; my ears caught hold of a whisper.
4:13  In the anxiety of a nightmare— while deep sleep falls on humans—
4:14  Fear took me by my right arm, terror by my left, and they shook me, they did!—made my bones rattle.
4:15  Then a wind blew through, a divine breath skimming my face. Every hair on my body stood on end.
4:16  It came to a stop, but I couldn’t make it out— some form there before me, then a hushed voice breaking the silence:
4:17  “Can a mortal stand innocent before God? Can a man or even a hero be pure before his Creator?”
4:18  If God is unsure of His own servants, and in His holy attendants He finds fault,
4:19  How much more those whose bodies come from clay, whose skeletons are dust, are crushed like a moth.
4:20  From morning to evening, their bodies are broken to pieces, ground back into dirt, unseen, gone forever.
4:21  When the cords of their tents are pulled up, don’t they die, none the wiser?