Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,
2 “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?
Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value?
4 Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you.
7 “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?
Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand which is not in us?
What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than your father.
With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;
13 that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright?
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!
17 “I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare
Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:
18 (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
(The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;
19 to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):
For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them: )
20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer will come on him.
A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him:
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him:
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all,
26 he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers,
Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,
27 because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;
28 He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.
29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue, neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth.
30 He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud.
31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his reward.
Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.
32 It will be accomplished before his time. His branch will not be green.
His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and will cast off his flower as the olive tree.
He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.
35 They conceive mischief and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”
Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.
