19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.
20 'Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24 For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water.
25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.'
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 'If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?
3 Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.
4 Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?
7 'Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?
8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
9 At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.
10 The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
11 The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 'A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.
13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
16 It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:
17 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!
20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.
21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?'
5 'Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
3 I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
4 His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
5 The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 'But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
10 He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside.
11 The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
