Job 4

Eliphaz Says the Innocent Do Not Suffer

Job 4:1

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Job 4:2

If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?

Job 4:3

Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

Job 4:4

Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

Job 4:5

But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

Job 4:6

Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

Job 4:7

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

Job 4:8

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Job 4:9

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

Job 4:10

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

Job 4:11

The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

Job 4:12

Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

Job 4:13

In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

Job 4:14

Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

Job 4:15

Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

Job 4:16

It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Job 4:17

Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

Job 4:18

Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Job 4:19

How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

Job 4:20

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

Job 4:21

Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.