Job 4 – read and compare multiple versions
Job 4
[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
[2] “If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
[3] Behold, you have instructed many,
you have strengthened the weak hands.
[4] Your words have supported him who was falling,
you have made the feeble knees firm.
[5] But now it has come to you, and you faint.
It touches you, and you are troubled.
[6] Isn’t your piety your confidence?
Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope? [7] “Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
[8] According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble, reap the same.
[9] By the breath of God they perish.
By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
[10] The roaring of the lion,
and the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
[11] The old lion perishes for lack of prey.
The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad. [12] “Now a thing was secretly brought to me.
My ear received a whisper of it.
[13] In thoughts from the visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
[14] fear came on me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
[15] Then a spirit passed before my face.
The hair of my flesh stood up.
[16] It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes.
Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
[17] ‘Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
[18] Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.
He charges his angels with error.
[19] How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth!
[20] Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
[21] Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.’
[2] “If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
[3] Behold, you have instructed many,
you have strengthened the weak hands.
[4] Your words have supported him who was falling,
you have made the feeble knees firm.
[5] But now it has come to you, and you faint.
It touches you, and you are troubled.
[6] Isn’t your piety your confidence?
Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope? [7] “Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
[8] According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble, reap the same.
[9] By the breath of God they perish.
By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
[10] The roaring of the lion,
and the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
[11] The old lion perishes for lack of prey.
The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad. [12] “Now a thing was secretly brought to me.
My ear received a whisper of it.
[13] In thoughts from the visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
[14] fear came on me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
[15] Then a spirit passed before my face.
The hair of my flesh stood up.
[16] It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes.
Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
[17] ‘Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
[18] Behold, he puts no trust in his servants.
He charges his angels with error.
[19] How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth!
[20] Between morning and evening they are destroyed.
They perish forever without any regarding it.
[21] Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.’