1
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Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:
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2
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If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
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3
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Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
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4
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Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
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5
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But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
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6
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Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
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7
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Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
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8
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On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
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9
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Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
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10
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The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:
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11
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The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
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12
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Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.
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13
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In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
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14
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Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
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15
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And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
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16
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There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind.
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17
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Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
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18
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Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
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19
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How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
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20
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From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
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21
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And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
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