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Eliphaz: Innocent Do Not Suffer

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

² "If we dare to converse with you, will you be impatient or offended?
But ^(C1)who can restrain himself from speaking?

³ "Behold, ^(C1)you have admonished and instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.

⁴ "Your words have helped the one who was stumbling to stand,
And you have strengthened feeble knees.

⁵ "But now ^(F1)adversity comes upon you, and you are ^(C1)impatient and intolerant;
It ^(C2)touches you, and you are horrified.

⁶ "Is not your ^(C1)fear of God ^(C2)your confidence,
And is not the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?

⁷ "Remember now, ^(C1)who, being innocent, ever perished?
Or where and in what circumstances were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed?

⁸ "As I have seen, ^(C1)those who plow wickedness
And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.

⁹ "By ^(C1)the breath of God they perish,
And ^(C2)by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

¹⁰ "The ^(C1)roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹ "The ^(C1)lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the ^(C2)cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹² "Now a word ^(C1)was secretly brought to me,
And my ear received a ^(C2)whisper of it.

¹³ "Amid ^(C1)disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴ Dread and trembling came upon me,
Which made all my bones shake.

¹⁵ "Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair on my skin stood on end!

¹⁶ "The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance;
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying:

¹⁷ 'Can mortal ^(C1)man be just before God or be more righteous than He?
Can a man be pure before his ^(C2)Maker or be more cleansed than He? ^(VR1)

¹⁸ '^(C1)God puts no trust or confidence, even in His heavenly servants,
And He charges His angels with error.

¹⁹ 'How much more will He blame and charge those who dwell in ^(C1)houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose ^(C2)foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.

²⁰ '^(C1)Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces and destroyed;
Unobserved and unnoticed, they ^(C2)perish forever.

²¹ 'Is not their ^(C1)tent-cord drawn up within them so that the tent collapses?
Do they not die, and yet ^(C2)without acquiring wisdom?'