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Eliphaz Speaks: Job Has Sinned

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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

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“If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?

But who can keep from speaking?

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See, you have instructed many;

you have strengthened the weak hands.

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Your words have supported those who were stumbling,

and you have made firm the feeble knees.

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But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.

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Is not your fear of God your confidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?

 

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“Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?

Or where were the upright cut off?

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As I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.

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By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

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The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

and the teeth of the young lions are broken.

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The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

 

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“Now a word came stealing to me,

my ear received the whisper of it.

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Amid thoughts from visions of the night,

when deep sleep falls on mortals,

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dread came upon me, and trembling,

which made all my bones shake.

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A spirit glided past my face;

the hair of my flesh bristled.

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It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

A form was before my eyes;

there was silence, then I heard a voice:

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‘Can mortals be righteous before God?

Can human beings be pure before their Maker?

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Even in his servants he puts no trust,

and his angels he charges with error;

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how much more those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed like a moth.

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Between morning and evening they are destroyed;

they perish forever without any regarding it.

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Their tent-cord is plucked up within them,

and they die devoid of wisdom.’