4Then Eliphaz from Teman spoke up:H464H8489H6030H5592"Would you mind if I said something to you? Under the circumstances it's hard to keep quiet.H5254H1697H3811H3201H6113H44053You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words that clarify, encouraged those who were about to quit.H3256H7227H2388H7504H30274Your words have put stumbling people on their feet, put fresh hope in people about to collapse.H4405H6965H3782H553H3766H12905But now you're the one in trouble—you're hurting! You've been hit hard and you're reeling from the blow.H935H3811H5060H9266But shouldn't your devout life give you confidence now? Shouldn't your exemplary life give you hope?H3374H3690H8615H8537H18707"Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?H2142H6H5355H375H3477H35828It's my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble.H7200H2790H205H2232H5999H71149One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them.H5397H433H6H7307H639H361510The mighty lion, king of the beasts, roars mightily, but when he's toothless he's useless—H7581H738H6963H7826H8127H3715H542111No teeth, no prey—and the cubs wander off to fend for themselves.H3918H6H1097H2964H3833H1121H650412"A word came to me in secret— a mere whisper of a word, but I heard it clearly.H1697H1589H241H3947H810213It came in a scary dream one night, after I had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.H5587H2384H3915H8639H5307H58214Dread stared me in the face, and Terror. I was scared to death—I shook from head to foot.H6343H7122H7461H7230H6106H634215A spirit glided right in front of me— the hair on my head stood on end.H7307H2498H6440H8185H1320H556816I couldn't tell what it was that appeared there— a blur . . . and then I heard a muffled voice:H5975H5234H4758H8544H5869H1827H8085H696317"'How can mere mortals be more righteous than God? How can humans be purer than their Creator?H582H6663H433H1397H2891H621318Why, God doesn't even trust his own servants, doesn't even cheer his angels,H539H5650H4397H7760H841719So how much less these bodies composed of mud, fragile as moths?H637H7931H1004H2563H3247H6083H1792H6440H621120These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow, and no one even notices—gone without a trace.H3807H1242H6153H6H5331H776021When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses— we die and are never the wiser for having lived.'H3499H5265H4191H2451