| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1In reply, Eliphaz from Teman answered: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: |
| 2"Will you get offended if somebody tries to talk to you? Who can keep from speaking at a time like this? | 2"If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking? |
| 3Look! You've admonished many people, and you've strengthened feeble hands. | 3Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands. |
| 4A word from you has supported those who have stumbled, and has strengthened faltering knees. | 4Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way. |
| 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! | 5But now the same thing comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are terrified. |
| 6"Your fear of God has been your confidence, hasn't it? The integrity of your life has been your hope, hasn't it? | 6Is not your piety your confidence, and your blameless ways your hope? |
| 7Now please think: Who has ever perished when they're innocent? Where have the upright been destroyed? | 7Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed? |
| 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! | 8Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same. |
| 9They perish by the breath of God; they are consumed by the storm that is his anger. | 9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. |
| 10"The lioness may roar, and the lion cub may growl; but even the ivory teeth of the full grown lion are broken. | 10There is the roaring of the lion and the growling of the young lion, but the teeth of the young lions are broken. |
| 11Full grown lions die when they cannot find prey; that's when the lion cubs are scattered. | 11The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. |
| 12"A message was confided to me; my ear caught a whisper of it. | 12"Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it. |
| 13Disquieting thoughts from dreams at night; when deep sleep falls on everyone. | 13In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night when a deep sleep falls on men, |
| 14A fear fell upon me, along with trembling that caused all my bones to shake in terror. | 14a trembling gripped me--and a terror!--and made all my bones shake. |
| 15A spirit glided past me and made the hair on my skin to bristle. | 15Then a breath of air passes by my face; it makes the hair of my flesh stand up. |
| 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: | 16It stands still, but I cannot recognize its appearance; an image is before my eyes, and I hear a murmuring voice: |
| 17Can a mortal person be more righteous than God? Or can the purity of the valiant exceed that of his maker?' | 17"Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator? |
| 18"Indeed, since he doesn't trust his servants, since he charges his angels with error, | 18If God puts no trust in his servants and attributes folly to his angels, |
| 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? | 19how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? |
| 20They are defeated between morning and evening; they perish forever—and no one notices! | 20They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. |
| 21Their wealth perishes with them, doesn't it? They die, and do so without having wisdom, don't they?" | 21Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining wisdom. |
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