Job 15

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,

Then 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 useless knowledge and fill himself 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 with which 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.

Indeed, you diminish respect for God; you obstruct devotion to him,

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

for your iniquity teaches your mouth; you choose to have the tongue of a crafty man.

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.

Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; indeed, your own lips testify against you.

7 Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?

Are you the first man that was born? Were you brought into existence before the hills?

8 Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?

Have you heard the secret knowledge of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9 What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?

What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not also 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 who are much older than your 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 you, the words that are gentle toward you?

12 Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;

Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,

13 So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?

so that you turn your spirit against God and bring out such words from your 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? What is he who 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;

See, God puts no trust even in his holy ones; indeed, 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 clean is one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

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

I will show you; listen to me; I will announce to you the things I have seen,

18 (The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;

the things that wise men have passed down from their fathers, the things that their ancestors did not hide.

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

These were their ancestors, to whom alone the land was given, and among whom no stranger ever passed.

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 twists in pain all his days, the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor to suffer.

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; while he is in prosperity, the destroyer will come upon him.

22 He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;

He does not think that he will return out of darkness; the sword waits for him.

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 goes to various places for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is at 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 battle.

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

Because he has reached out with his hand against God and has behaved 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,

this wicked man runs at God with a stiff neck, with a thick shield.

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

This is true, even though he has covered his face with his fat and gathered 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 has lived in desolate cities; in houses which no man inhabits now and 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 will not be rich; his wealth will not last and his possessions will not spread over the land.

30 He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud.

He will not depart out of darkness; a flame will dry up his stalks; at the breath of God's mouth he will 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 useless things, deceiving himself; for uselessness will be his reward.

32 His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.

It will happen before his time should come to die; his branch will 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 will drop his unripe grapes like a grapevine; he will cast off his flowers like the olive tree.

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 godless people will be barren; fire will consume their 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 give birth to iniquity; their womb conceives deceit.”