Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

1And Eliphas the Themanite aunswered, & sayde:

2If we assay to come with thee, wilt thou be discontent? But who can withhold him selfe from speaking?

3Beholde, thou hast ben an instructer of many, & hast strenghtned the weery handes:

4Thy wordes haue set vp him that was falling, thou hast refreshed the weake knees.

5But nowe it is come vpon thee, and thou art greeued: it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

6Was not thy feare according to thy hope? and the perfectnesse of thy wayes according to thy expectation?

7Consider I pray thee who euer perished beyng an innocent? or when were the godly destroyed?

8For as I haue proued by experience, they that plow iniquitie & sow wretchednesse, reape the same.

9With the blast of God they perishe, with the breath of his nostrels are they consumed away.

10The roring of the lion, and the voyce of the lion, and the teeth of the lions whelpes are pulled out.

11The lion perisheth for lake of pray, & the lions whelpes are scattered abrode.

12But wheras a thing was hyd from me, yet myne care hath receaued a litle therof.

13In the thoughtes and visions of the night when sleepe commeth on men,

14Feare came vpon me & dread, which made all my bones to shake.

15The winde passed by before my presence, and made the heeres of my fleshe to stande vp.

16He stoode thereon and I knewe not his face, an image there was before myne eyes, and in the stilnesse hearde I a voyce.

17Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be purer then his maker?

18Beholde, he founde not trueth in his seruauntes, and in his angels there was folly:

19Howe much more in them that dwel in houses of clay, and whose foundation is but dust, which shall be consumed as it were with a moth?

20They shalbe smitten from the morning vnto the euening: yea they shall perishe for euer, when no man regardeth them.

21Is not their royaltie gone away with them? they shall dye truely, and not in wysdome.