1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “If someone tried to speak with you, would you be upset?I cannot keep from speaking.
3 Think about the many people you have taughtand the weak hands you have made strong.
4 Your words have comforted those who fell,and you have strengthened those who could not stand.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;trouble hits you, and you are terrified.
6 You should have confidence because you respect God;you should have hope because you are innocent.
7 “Remember that the innocent will not die;honest people will never be destroyed.
8 I have noticed that people who plow eviland plant trouble, harvest it.
9 God’s breath destroys them,and a blast of his anger kills them.
10 Lions may roar and growl,but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,
11 that lion dies of hunger.The cubs of the mother lion are scattered.
12 “A word was brought to me in secret,and my ears heard a whisper of it.
13 It was during a nightmarewhen people are in deep sleep.
14 I was trembling with fear;all my bones were shaking.
15 A spirit glided past my face,and the hair on my body stood on end.
16 The spirit stopped,but I could not see what it was.A shape stood before my eyes,and I heard a quiet voice.
17 It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?Can a person be pure before his maker?
18 God does not trust his angels;he blames them for mistakes.
19 So he puts even more blame on people who live in clay houses,whose foundations are made of dust,who can be crushed like a moth.
20 Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces;without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.
21 The ropes of their tents are pulled up,and they die without wisdom.’