Job 15

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, 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 make 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?

Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith he can 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 doest away with fear, and impairest devotion before God.

5 For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.

For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest 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; yea, thine own 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? Or 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?

Dost thou hearken in the council of God? And dost thou restrain wisdom to 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.

With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much 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 that dealeth gently with 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 such 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 clean? 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; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.

16 How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!

How much less one that is abominable and impure, man who drinketh iniquity like water!

17 Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:

I will tell thee, hear thou me; and that which 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 hid it;

19 For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them: )

Unto whom alone the land 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.

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

21 A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:

A sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come 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 waited for of 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 is it?' 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 overwhelm him; they prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

25 Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all,

Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, and behaveth himself proudly 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 upon him with a stiff neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers.

27 Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;

Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, and made collops of fat on his loins;

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 hath dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man would inhabit, which were ready 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 be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their produce bend to 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, deceiving himself; 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 accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be leafy.

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 grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the 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 company of the godless shall be desolate, 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.