1 Eliphaz: Innocent Do Not Suffer Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,2 “If we dare to converse with you, will you be impatient [or offended]?But who can restrain himself from speaking?3 Behold, you have admonishedandinstructed 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 nowLit it.adversity comes upon you, and you are impatientandintolerant;It touches you, and you are horrified.6 Is not your fearof Godyour confidence,And [is not] the integrityanduprightness of your ways your hope?7 “Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished?Or where [and in what circumstances] were those uprightandin right standing with God destroyed?8 As I have seen, those who plow wickednessAnd those who sow troubleandharm harvest it.9 By the breath of God they perish,And by the blast of His anger they are consumed.10 The roaring of the lion and the voice of thefiercelion,And the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The lion perishes for lack of prey,And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.12 “Now a word was secretly brought to me,And my ear received a whisper of it.13 Amid 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 wassilence, and then I heard a voice, saying:17 ‘Can [mortal] man be just before Godorbe more righteous than He?Can a man be pure before his Makerorbe more cleansed than He?18 God puts no trustorconfidence, 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 houses (bodies) of clay,Whose foundations are in the dust,Who are crushed like a moth.20 Between morning and evening they are broken in piecesanddestroyed;Unobservedandunnoticed, they perish forever.21 Is not their tent-cord drawn up within them [so that the tent collapses]?Do they not die, and yet without [acquiring] wisdom?’