Eliphaz speaks first, saying that Job has comforted others and now should be patient. He claims the innocent do not perish and the wicked do, and tells of a spirit that said no mortal is righteous before God.
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said ,
2 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved ? but who can withhold himself from speaking ?
3 Behold, thou hast instructed many , and thou hast strengthened the weak hands .
4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling , and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees .
5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest ; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled .
6 Is not this thy fear , thy confidence , thy hope , and the uprightness of thy ways ?
7 Remember , I pray thee, who ever perished , being innocent ? or where were the righteous cut off ?
8 Even as I have seen , they that plow iniquity , and sow wickedness , reap the same.
9 By the blast of God they perish , and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed .
10 The roaring of the lion , and the voice of the fierce lion , and the teeth of the young lions , are broken .
11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey , and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad .
12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
13 In thoughts from the visions of the night , when deep sleep falleth on men ,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling , which made all my bones to shake .
15 Then a spirit passed before my face ; the hair of my flesh stood up :
16 It stood still , but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes , there was silence , and I heard a voice , saying,
17 Shall mortal man be more just than God ? shall a man be more pure than his maker ?
18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants ; and his angels he charged with folly :
19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay , whose foundation is in the dust , which are crushed before the moth ?
20 They are destroyed from morning to evening : they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away ? they die , even without wisdom .