Eliphaz: the Innocent Prosper

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2If we essay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can refrain from speaking?

3Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

4Thy words have upheld him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

5But now it hath come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

6Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

7Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off;

8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

9By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

11The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

12Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a small sound of it.

13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men.

14Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

15Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

16It stood still, but I could not discern its form: an image was before my eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

17Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

18Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

19How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth?

20They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

21Doth not their excellence which is in them depart? they die, even without wisdom.