1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2“If someone tries to talk with you, will you be upset? But who can keep from speaking?
3Look, you have taught many people, and you have strengthened weak hands.
4Your words have supported those who were falling, you have made feeble knees strong.
5But now it has happened to you, and you are losing heart. It affects you, and you are troubled.
6Isn't your devotion your confidence? Isn't the honesty of your ways your hope?
7“Think about it now: who ever died when they were innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed?
8From what I've seen, those who plant evil and sow trouble harvest the same.
9They die by the breath of God. They are consumed by the blast of his anger.
10The lion's roar and the fierce lion's voice are silenced, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11The old lion dies because there's no prey, and the lioness's cubs are scattered.
12Now, something was secretly revealed to me; my ear caught a whisper of it.
13In thoughts from visions in the night, when a deep sleep falls on people,
14fear and trembling came over me, making all my bones shake.
15Then a spirit passed in front of my face; the hair on my body stood up.
16It stood still, but I couldn't make out its form. There was a shape before my eyes. Then came silence, and I heard a voice saying,
17'Can a mortal human be more righteous than God? Can a person be purer than their Creator?'
18Look, God doesn't trust his own servants; he finds fault with his angels.
19How much more so with those who live in bodies made of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed more easily than a moth!
20They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever, and no one even notices.
21Aren't the ropes of their tent pulled out from within them? They die without gaining any wisdom.