Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
Behold, thou hast instructed many,
And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Thy words have upholden him that was falling,
And thou hast made firm the {Hebrew: bowing.}feeble knees.
But now it is come unto thee, and thou {Or, art grieved}faintest;
It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
Is not thy fear of God thy confidence,
And the integrity of thy ways thy hope?
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?
Or where were the upright cut off?
According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,
And sow {Or, mischief}trouble, reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey,
And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
Now a thing was {Hebrew: brought by stealth.}secretly brought to me,
And mine ear received a whisper thereof.
In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
Fear came upon me, and trembling,
Which made all my bones to shake.
Then {Or, a breath passed over}a spirit passed before my face;
The hair of my flesh stood up.
It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof;
A form was before mine eyes:
{Or, I heard a still voice}There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
Shall mortal man {Or, be just before God}be more just than God?
Shall a man {Or, be pure before his Maker}be more pure than his Maker?
Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants;
And his angels he chargeth with folly:
How much more them that dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed {Or, like}before the moth!
{Or, From morning to evening}Betwixt morning and evening they are {Hebrew: broken in pieces.}destroyed:
They perish for ever without any regarding it.
{Or, Is not their excellency which is in them removed?}Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?
They die, and that without wisdom.
Querverweise zu Hiob 4,19 Hiob 4,19
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay;And wilt thou bring me into dust again?
{Hebrew: And he is like.}Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth,Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes,Your defences are defences of clay.
He cometh forth like a flower, and {Or, withereth}is cut down:He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Behold, {Or, I am according to thy wish in God's stead}I am toward God even as thou art:I also am formed out of the clay.
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,Thou {Or, consumest like a moth his delights}makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:Surely every man is {Hebrew: a breath.}vanity. [Selah
And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep:In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up;In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
For we are consumed in thine anger,And in thy wrath are we troubled.
in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
As for man, his days are as grass;As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes:
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;And the place thereof shall know it no more.
and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;In that very day his {Or, purposes}thoughts perish.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;
For, {Isaiah 40:6 ff.}All flesh is as grass,And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.The grass withereth, and the flower falleth:
For we know that if the earthly house of our {Or, bodily frame Compare Wisd. 9:15}tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.