Job 15
1 And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,
And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?
Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind,
3 Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value?
Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good?
4 Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.
Yea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before God.
5 For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.
6 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.
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee.
7 Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?
Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills?
8 Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?
Hast thou listened in the secret council of God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself?
9 What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?
What knowest thou that we know not? [what] understandest thou which is not in us?
10 With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.
Both the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father.
11 Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?
Are the consolations of God too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee?
12 Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;
Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink?
13 So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?
That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest words go out of thy mouth?
14 What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright?
What is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight:
16 How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!
How much less the abominable and corrupt, — man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!
17 Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:
I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare;
18 (The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;
19 For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them: )
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.
All his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent.
21 A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:
The sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him.
22 He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is singled out for the sword.
23 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:
He wandereth abroad for bread, — where may it be? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him:
Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.
25 Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all,
For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty:
26 Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,
He runneth against him, with [outstretched] neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;
For he hath covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon [his] flanks.
28 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.
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps.
29 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.
He shall not become rich, neither shall his substance continue, and their possessions shall not extend upon the earth.
30 He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud.
He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches; and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31 Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.
Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense;
32 His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.
It shall be complete before his day, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers.
He shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive.
34 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.
For the family of the ungodly shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35 Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
