| Holman Christian Standard Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: |
| 2Should anyone try to speak with you when you are exhausted? Yet who can keep from speaking? | 2“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? |
| 3Indeed, you have instructed many and have strengthened weak hands. | 3Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. |
| 4Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling and braced the knees that were buckling. | 4Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. |
| 5But now that this has happened to you, you have become exhausted. It strikes you, and you are dismayed. | 5But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. |
| 6Isn't your piety your confidence, and the integrity of your life your hope? | 6Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? |
| 7Consider: who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed? | 7“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? |
| 8In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same. | 8As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. |
| 9They perish at a single blast from God and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils. | 9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. |
| 10The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the fangs of young lions are broken. | 10The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken. |
| 11The strong lion dies if it catches no prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. | 11The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. |
| 12A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it. | 12“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. |
| 13Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep descends on men, | 13Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, |
| 14fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shake. | 14dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. |
| 15A wind passed by me, and I shuddered with fear. | 15A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. |
| 16A figure stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a quiet voice: | 16It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: |
| 17"Can a person be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?" | 17‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? |
| 18If God puts no trust in His servants and He charges His angels with foolishness, | 18Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges 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 more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. |
| 20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they perish forever while no one notices. | 20Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. |
| 21Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom. | 21Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’ |
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