| NET Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
| 2"If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking? | 2Should anyone try to speak with you when you are exhausted? Yet who can keep from speaking? |
| 3Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands. | 3Indeed, you have instructed many and have strengthened weak hands. |
| 4Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way. | 4Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling and braced the knees that were buckling. |
| 5But now the same thing comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are terrified. | 5But now that this has happened to you, you have become exhausted. It strikes you, and you are dismayed. |
| 6Is not your piety your confidence, and your blameless ways your hope? | 6Isn't your piety your confidence, and the integrity of your life your hope? |
| 7Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed? | 7Consider: who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed? |
| 8Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same. | 8In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same. |
| 9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. | 9They perish at a single blast from God and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils. |
| 10There is the roaring of the lion and the growling of the young lion, but the teeth of the young lions are broken. | 10The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the fangs of young lions are broken. |
| 11The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. | 11The strong lion dies if it catches no prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. |
| 12"Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it. | 12A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it. |
| 13In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night when a deep sleep falls on men, | 13Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep descends on men, |
| 14a trembling gripped me--and a terror!--and made all my bones shake. | 14fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shake. |
| 15Then a breath of air passes by my face; it makes the hair of my flesh stand up. | 15A wind passed by me, and I shuddered with fear. |
| 16It stands still, but I cannot recognize its appearance; an image is before my eyes, and I hear a murmuring voice: | 16A figure stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a quiet voice: |
| 17"Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator? | 17"Can a person be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?" |
| 18If God puts no trust in his servants and attributes folly to his angels, | 18If God puts no trust in His servants and He charges His angels with foolishness, |
| 19how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? | 19how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth! |
| 20They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. | 20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they perish forever while no one notices. |
| 21Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining wisdom. | 21Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom. |
|
    |