43 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 4
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1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job:
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2 “Will you be patient and let me say a word?
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For who could keep from speaking out?
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3 “In the past you have encouraged many people;
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you have strengthened those who were weak.
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4 Your words have supported those who were falling;
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you encouraged those with shaky knees.
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5 But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart.
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You are terrified when it touches you.
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6 Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence?
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Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?
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7 “Stop and think! Do the innocent die?
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When have the upright been destroyed?
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8 My experience shows that those who plant trouble
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and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
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9 A breath from God destroys them.
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They vanish in a blast of his anger.
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10 The lion roars and the wildcat snarls,
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but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
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11 The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey,
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and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.
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12 “This truth was given to me in secret,
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as though whispered in my ear.
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13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night,
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when people are in a deep sleep.
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14 Fear gripped me,
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and my bones trembled.
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15 A spirit swept past my face,
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and my hair stood on end.
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16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape.
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There was a form before my eyes.
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In the silence I heard a voice say,
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17 ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God?
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Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’
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18 “If God does not trust his own angels
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and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
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19 how much less will he trust people made of clay!
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They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
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20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening,
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gone forever without a trace.
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21 Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses,
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and they die in ignorance. |