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.
<html><b>Eliphaz’s Address</b><br><b>Eliphaz</b> He was Esau’s son, and because he was nurtured in Isaac’s bosom, he merited that the Shechinah rest upon him. <b>the Temanite</b> From the land of Tema, Esau’s country. (Not found in some editions.)</html>
<html><b>Because He tested</b> This is an expression of wonder. Because He tested you with one thing, should you weary? With one rest that the Holy One, blessed be He, tested you, you have become weary. From now on, who will be able to withhold his words from answering you?</html>
<html><b>Behold, you have chastised many</b> who multiplied words; you admonished them and chastised them. <b>and…weak hands</b> of those who feared the retribution that came upon them. You used to strengthen [them] and say, “Fear not, for that is the Divine Standard of Justice.”</html>
<html><b>would pick up</b> Your words were wont to pick up the stumbler.</html>
<html><b>Surely</b> now, your end reveals your beginning, that your fear, that you feared heaven… <b>your foolishness</b> is due to foolishness and not to full understanding, and so are your hope and the sincerity of your ways all foolishness.</html>
<html><b>destroyed</b> Heb. נכחדו, disappeared and perished, like (Exod. 9:15), “and you would vanish (ותכחד) from the earth.”</html>
<html><b>As I have seen</b> that those who plow violence and prepare the iniquity in their thoughts, like a plower who prepares [the field] before sowing, afterwards they sow mischief with their deeds. And I saw that they will reap it—i.e., their evil that comes upon them, and I saw that.</html>
<html><b>From the breath of God they will perish</b> From the blowing of His stormwind and His anger. <b>and from the wind of His nostrils</b> they are always destroyed, and he spoke of the Generation of the Flood.</html>
<html><b>The roar of an old lion, the voice of a young lion</b> The אריה is the old one, the שַׁחַל the middle one, and the כפיר the cub; all of them were misled, i.e., the kings, the princes and the slaves; all these names are names of the lion.</html>
<html><b>A lion perishes without prey</b> The princes perished like a lion who perishes without food; so did their strength to commit violence dissipate. The word אֹבֵד is not an expression of a man who loses something, but [of a man who has] himself become lost, like (Ps. 119.176), “I have gone astray like a lost (אבד) sheep.” and like (ibid. 31:13), “I was like a lost (אבד) vessel.” <b>and the young of the lion will scatter</b> He is speaking of the Generation of the Dispersion, who were scattered from there [Babel] over the face of the entire earth.</html>
<html><b>Now a word was conveyed secretly to me</b> He returns to his rebuke with which he has been chastising him till now: Why are you crying? “Remember now who was innocent that perished…As I have seen, etc.” And concerning you a word of prophecy was secretly conveyed to me, [lit. was stolen to me], from the expression like a stolen thing, because the Holy Spirit does not reveal itself to the prophets of the heathens in public. This is analogous to a king who had a wife and a mistress. When he would go to his wife, he would go in public, but to his mistress, he would go clandestinely and stealthily. So it is with the Holy One, blessed be He. Regarding the prophets of the heathens [Scripture states:] (Gen. 20:3), “And God came to Abimelech in the dream of the night,” and similarly (ibid. 31: 24), “And God came to Laban the Aramean in the dream of the night”; to Balaam (Num. 24:4), “who falls, but his eyes are open” [in Gen. Rabbah 52:5 (Num. 22:20), “And God came to Balaam at night”]; to Eliphaz, “in the visions of the night.” But concerning the prophets of Israel it is written (ibid. 12:8): “With him I speak mouth to mouth manifestly and not with riddles.” In Midrash Tanchuma, I found it emended [See Tanchuma Balak 8, Tanchuma Buber Vayishlach 24.] Now [in] the expression, “And my ear grasped a bit of it,” שֶׁמֶץ, means a bit of the spirit of understanding.</html>
<html><b>terror befell me</b> from the spirit that came to me. and the spirit was an angel. as it is stated (Ps. 104:4): “He makes his angels spirits.”</html>
<html><b>it made stand on end</b> The spirit made the hair of my flesh (stand on end].
h.תסמר. That is an expression of a man whose hair stood on end.</html>
<html><b>It was standing</b> It was standing before me, but I did not recognize its appearance. <b>a faint voice</b> I heard the sound of faint words. Another explanation: I heard silence and a voice. I heard the voice of the silence, but the silence I did not hear. “Silence” denotes angels reciting praise silently, as [Jonathan] renders (I Kings 19:12): “a still small voice” as: a voice of those praising quietly. Moses heard the silence [i.e., the voice of the angels praising]—from here we deduce that the early prophets heard [lit. used] the voice, whereas the later ones heard an echo, like a man who hits with a hammer, and the echo resounds far away. From here… far away. Here it is written: silence and a voice, whereas concerning Elijah it is written: a still small voice; because Eliphaz heard only the silencing of the voice, like a person who shouts into a barrel, that the voice of the barrel shouts toward him. That is an echo, not the voice itself, but concerning Elijah if is written: a still, small voice, for he heard the voice itself] And this is what it said.</html>
<html><b>Can a mortal be more righteous than God?</b> This is a wonder. <b>or can a man be purer than his Maker?</b> Or can a man be more pure than his Maker?</html>
<html><b>Behold…His servants</b> the righteous. He does not trust that they will not sin against Him, and He takes them out of the world before their time. <b>reproach</b> Heb. תהלה, an expression of folly.</html>
<html><b>Surely</b> Surely. <b>those who dwell in mud houses, whose foundation is in dust,</b> meaning their graves. <b>they crush them before the worms</b> From heaven, their strength is sapped until they are humble and crushed before the worms that eat them in death.</html>
<html><b>From morning to evening they are crushed</b> in one day, they are crushed and subdued. <b>without giving [a thought]</b> lit. without putting it upon their heart to return to their Maker. <b>they perish to eternity</b> This too is an elliptical verse.</html>
<html><b>Their haughtiness, which is absorbed within them does it not leave [them]?</b> Heb. יתרם בם, like (Isa. 15:7), “Because of haughty things (יתרה) they did.” Their haughtiness and their wisdom, which is absorbed into their body—behold it will move away and be uprooted from them, like (ibid. 33: 20), “whose pegs shall never be moved (יסע).”</html>