1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Job. 2 “Could I say a word? I don't want to upset you but who could keep quiet and not respond? 3 You've certainly encouraged many people and supported those who are weak. 4 Your advice has helped those who are stumbling not to fall, and you have strengthened those whose knees are weak. 5 But now you're the one suffering and you're upset. 6 Wasn't it your reverence for God that gave you confidence and your integrity that gave you hope? 7 Think about it: since when did the innocent die? Since when were good people destroyed? 8 From what I've seen it's those who plant evil and sow trouble who reap the same! 9 A breath from God destroys them; a blast of his anger wipes them out. 10 Lions may roar and growl, but their teeth still break. 11 Even a lion dies from lack of food, and the lioness' cubs are scattered. 12 A word quietly crept up on me; a whisper reached my ear. 13 Troubling thoughts came to me in nightmares when you fall into a deep sleep. 14 I became terrified and trembled; all my bones were shaking. 15 Then a breath brushed my face and gave me goose-pimples. 16 Something stopped, but I couldn't see its face. My eyes could only make out a shape. It was totally quiet, and then I heard a voice: 17 ‘Can anyone be right before God? Can anyone be pure before their Maker? 18 If he doesn't even trust his servants, and he says his angels make mistakes, 19 how much more does this apply to those who live in these houses made of clay, whose foundations are based on dust, who fall apart like clothing to a moth? 20 Alive in the morning, they are dead by evening. They die, unnoticed. 21 They are like tent ropes that are pulled up, and they collapse in death. They die without wisdom.’”
Job 4 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Eliphaz the Temanite
One of Job's three friends who came to sympathize and comfort him, and whom the LORD rebuked at the end of the book for not speaking rightly of Him.
Cited in the guide: Job 2:11; Job 4:1; Job 15:1
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Job 6:1; Job 8:1; Job 2:11; Job 22:1; Job 15:1
- 2 Job 32:18–20; Acts 4:20; Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 20:9; 2 Corinthians 2:4–6
- 3 Isaiah 35:3; Proverbs 10:21; Hebrews 12:12; Luke 22:32; Job 16:5
- 4 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Proverbs 12:18; Psalm 145:14; Hebrews 12:12; Proverbs 16:23–24
- 5 Job 19:21; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Job 1:11; Hebrews 12:5; Proverbs 24:10
- 6 Proverbs 3:26; Proverbs 14:26; Job 1:1; Job 17:15; Job 23:11–12
- 7 Psalm 37:25; Job 36:7; 2 Peter 2:9; Acts 28:4; Job 8:20
- 8 Galatians 6:7–8; Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 8:7; 2 Corinthians 9:6; Hosea 10:12–13
- 9 Job 15:30; Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Isaiah 30:33; Revelation 2:16
- 10 Psalm 58:6; Psalm 3:7; Psalm 57:4; Proverbs 30:14; Job 5:15
- 11 Psalm 34:10; Job 38:39; Job 8:3–4; Job 1:19; Jeremiah 4:7
- 12 Job 26:14; Psalm 62:11; 1 Corinthians 13:12
- 13 Job 33:14–16; Genesis 2:21; Genesis 15:12; Daniel 10:9; Daniel 4:5
- 14 Revelation 1:17; Job 33:19; Luke 1:12; Job 7:14; Psalm 119:120
- 15 Hebrews 1:7; Luke 24:37–39; Psalm 104:4; Daniel 5:6; Isaiah 21:3–4
- 16 1 Kings 19:12
- 17 Job 9:2; Job 25:4; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Psalm 143:2; Jeremiah 17:9
- 18 Job 25:5–6; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Job 15:15–16; Psalm 104:4
- 19 Job 10:9; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; Job 33:6; Psalm 39:11
- 20 Job 20:7; 2 Chronicles 21:20; Psalm 39:13; Job 18:17; Proverbs 10:7
- 21 Job 36:12; Luke 16:22–23; Job 8:22; Psalm 39:11; Luke 12:20
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences