| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1In reply, Eliphaz from Teman answered: |
| 2Should anyone try to speak with you when you are exhausted? Yet who can keep from speaking? | 2"Will you get offended if somebody tries to talk to you? Who can keep from speaking at a time like this? |
| 3Indeed, you have instructed many and have strengthened weak hands. | 3Look! You've admonished many people, and you've strengthened feeble hands. |
| 4Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling and braced the knees that were buckling. | 4A word from you has supported those who have stumbled, and has strengthened faltering knees. |
| 5But now that this has happened to you, you have become exhausted. It strikes you, and you are dismayed. | 5"But now it's your turn, and you're the one who is worn out! Now it's striking you, and you're dismayed! |
| 6Isn't your piety your confidence, and the integrity of your life your hope? | 6"Your fear of God has been your confidence, hasn't it? The integrity of your life has been your hope, hasn't it? |
| 7Consider: who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed? | 7Now please think: Who has ever perished when they're innocent? Where have the upright been destroyed? |
| 8In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same. | 8It's been my experience that those who plow the soil of iniquity and those who sow the seed of trouble will reap their harvest! |
| 9They perish at a single blast from God and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils. | 9They perish by the breath of God; they are consumed by the storm that is his anger. |
| 10The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the fangs of young lions are broken. | 10"The lioness may roar, and the lion cub may growl; but even the ivory teeth of the full grown lion are broken. |
| 11The strong lion dies if it catches no prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. | 11Full grown lions die when they cannot find prey; that's when the lion cubs are scattered. |
| 12A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it. | 12"A message was confided to me; my ear caught a whisper of it. |
| 13Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep descends on men, | 13Disquieting thoughts from dreams at night; when deep sleep falls on everyone. |
| 14fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shake. | 14A fear fell upon me, along with trembling that caused all my bones to shake in terror. |
| 15A wind passed by me, and I shuddered with fear. | 15A spirit glided past me and made the hair on my skin to bristle. |
| 16A figure stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a quiet voice: | 16It remained standing, but I couldn't recognize its appearance. A form appeared before my eyes; At first there was silence, and then this voice: |
| 17"Can a person be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?" | 17Can a mortal person be more righteous than God? Or can the purity of the valiant exceed that of his maker?' |
| 18If God puts no trust in His servants and He charges His angels with foolishness, | 18"Indeed, since he doesn't trust his servants, since he charges his angels with error, |
| 19how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth! | 19how much less confidence does he have in those who dwell in houses of clay; who were formed from a foundation in dust and can perish like a moth? |
| 20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they perish forever while no one notices. | 20They are defeated between morning and evening; they perish forever—and no one notices! |
| 21Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom. | 21Their wealth perishes with them, doesn't it? They die, and do so without having wisdom, don't they?" |
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