Job 4  Contemporary English Version

4 Eliphaz from Teman^[a] said:
² Please be patient and listen
    to what I have to say.
* ³ Remember how your words
⁴ have guided and encouraged
    many in need.
⁵ But now you feel discouraged
    when struck by trouble.
⁶ You respect God and live right,
    so don't lose hope!
⁷ No truly innocent person
    has ever died young.
⁸ In my experience, only those
who plant seeds of evil
    harvest trouble,
⁹ and then they are swept away
    by the angry breath of God.
¹⁰ They may roar and growl
    like powerful lions.
But when God breaks their teeth,
¹¹ they starve, and their children
    are scattered.

¹² A secret was told to me
    in a faint whisper—
^13 (A) I was overcome by sleep,
    but disturbed by dreams;
¹⁴ I trembled with fear,
¹⁵ and my hair stood on end,
    as a wind blew past my face.
¹⁶ It stopped and stood still.
Then a form appeared—
    a shapeless form.
And from the silence,
    I heard a voice say,
¹⁷ “No humans are innocent
in the eyes of God
    their Creator.
¹⁸ He finds fault with his servants
    and even with his angels.
¹⁹ Humans are formed from clay
and are fragile as moths,
    so what chance do you have?
²⁰ Born after daybreak,
you die before nightfall
    and disappear forever.
²¹ Your tent pegs are pulled up,
and you leave this life,
    having gained no wisdom.”