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Eliphaz's First Speech

Please Be Patient and Listen

Eliphaz from Teman[a] said:
Please be patient and listen
    to what I have to say.
* Remember how your words
have guided and encouraged
    many in need.
But now you feel discouraged
    when struck by trouble.
You respect God and live right,
    so don't lose hope!
No truly innocent person
    has ever died young.
In my experience, only those
who plant seeds of evil
    harvest trouble,
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.

A Secret Was Told to Me

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.”

Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Teman: See the note at 2.11.

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