1Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered and said, 2“If we dare to converse with you, will you be grieved? But who can refrain from speaking? 3Think how you have instructed many, and have strengthened the weak hands. 4Your words have upheld those that were stumbling, and you have strengthened those with weak knees. 5But now trouble has come upon you, and you faint; it touches you, and you are dismayed.

6“Does your reverence for and trust in God not give you confidence, and the uprightness of your ways give you hope? 7Consider, now: whoever perished while innocent? Or where were the righteous ever destroyed? 8From what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9They perish by the blast of God; by the breath of His nostrils, they are destroyed. 10The lions may roar, and the fierce lion may growl; but the teeth of the young lions are broken. 11The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered.

12“Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a little of it. 13Amid thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14Fear and dread came upon me, which made me tremble and my bones shook. 15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. 16That spirit stood still, but I could not discern its form; an image was before my eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 17‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be purer than his Maker? 18Behold, He puts no trust in His servants; and His angels He charged with folly: 19How much less in those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? 20They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever without any noticing it. 21Does not the excellency within them go away? They die without gaining wisdom.