02_Burnight-co_347_370 28/10/14 10:35 Pagina 353 DOES ELIPHAZ REALLY BEGIN “GENTLY”? 353 hal — with the first colon, and his “fear” (the nipʿal of lhb, “be dismayed, terrified”) with the second 16. His phrasing, as has been noted by a number of commentators, suggests that he is accusing Job of not “practicing what he has preached”: Job has previously presumed to offer moral instruction to those being chastened by God, and urged them to take courage in the face of adversity. Now, however, he fails to heed his own advice and correct his behavior, and instead gives vent to his distress in what Eliphaz views as an unseemly or even blasphemous manner. V. Job 4,6a: is Eliphaz comforting or criticizing Job? The reference to Job’s “terror” in 4,5 creates an excellent se- mantic parallel with “your fear” (dtary) in 4,6, which is the key verse in determining Eliphaz’s attitude toward Job. As such, it will be discussed in detail. The Hebrew text (with the NASB’s transla- tion) reads: 4,6 Is not your fear of God your confidence, And the integrity of your ways your hope? The majority of modern commentators view this verse as Eli- phaz’s acknowledgement of Job’s piety and righteousness. Newsom, for example, notes that Eliphaz’s words here echo the positive as- sessment of Job offered by both the narrator and God in the Pro- logue (1,1; 1,8; 2,3); she writes that they “make clear that Eliphaz does not assume Job is sinful” 17. The meaning of the terms in the second colon — $twqt, “your hope” and $ykrd ~t, “the integrity of your ways” — seems clear. The position of the waw-conjunction is peculiar, however, and thus complicates the relationship to the first colon (see discussion below). 16 Though some translations (e.g., KJV, ASV) render lhbt here as “trou- bled”, in modern English usage this might lack the idea of “fright” connoted by the verb. The four other occurrences of forms of lhb in Job (21,6; 22,10; 23,15.16) are all in parallelism with “fear” terminology. 17 C. NEWSOM, “Job”, 376; see also CLINES, Job 1–20, 109, 123-124; S. BALENTINE, Job (Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary; Macon, GA 2006) 105-106, and many others.