Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
And Eliphaz the Temanite answers and says:
2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
“Does a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill his belly [with] an east wind?
3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
To reason with a word not useful? And speeches—no profit in them?
4 Hast not you moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
Indeed, you make reverence void, and diminish meditation before God.
5 You are guilty by the words of your mouth, neither have you discerned the words of the mighty.
For your mouth teaches your iniquity, And you choose the tongue of the cunning.
6 Let your own mouth, and not me, reprove you: and your lips shall testify against you.
Your mouth declares you wicked, and not I, And your lips testify against you.
7 What! are you the first man that was born? or were you established before the hills?
Are you the first man born? And were you formed before the heights?
8 Or have you heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used you as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to you?
Do you hear of the secret counsel of God? And withdraw wisdom to you?
9 For what know you, that, we know not? or what understand you, which we do not also?
What have you known, and we do not know? [What] do you understand, and it is not with us?
10 Truly amongst us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than your father.
Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us—Greater than your father [in] days.
11 You have been scourged for [but] few of your sins: you have spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Are the comforts of God too few for you? And a gentle word [is] with you,
12 What has your heart dared? or what have your eyes [aimed at],
Why does your heart take you away? And why are your eyes high?
13 that you have vented [your] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [your] mouth?
Do you turn your spirit against God? And have brought out words from your mouth:
14 For who, being a mortal, [is such] that he shall be blameless? or, [who that is] born of a woman, that he should be just?
What [is] man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?
15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
Behold, He puts no credence in His holy ones, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.
16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
Also—surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking perverseness as water.
17 But I will tell you, listen to me; I will tell you now what I have seen;
I show you—listen to me—And this I have seen and declare,
18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
Which the wise declare—And have not hid—from their fathers.
19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
To them alone was the land given, And a stranger did not pass over into their midst:
20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
All [the] days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.
21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
A fearful voice [is] in his ears, In peace a destroyer comes to him.
22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
He does not believe to return from darkness, And he watches for the sword.
23 And he has been appointed to be food for vultures; and he knows within himself that he is doomed to be a carcass: and a dark day shall carry him away as with a whirlwind.
He is wandering for bread: Where [is] it? He has known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.
24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Adversity and distress terrify him, They prevail over him as a king ready for a boaster.
25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
For he stretched out his hand against God, And against the Mighty he makes himself mighty.
26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
He runs to Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.
27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
For he has covered his face with his fat, And makes vigor over [his] confidence.
28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
And he inhabits cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.
29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
He is not rich, nor does his wealth rise, Nor does he stretch out their continuance on earth.
30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
He does not turn aside from darkness, A flame dries up his tender branch, And he turns aside at the breath of His mouth!
31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
Do not let him put credence in vanity, He has been deceived, For vanity is his exchange.
32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
It is not completed in his day, And his bending branch is not green.
33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
He shakes off his unripe fruit as a vine, And casts off his blossom as an olive.
34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
For the company of the profane [is] barren, And fire has consumed tents of bribery.
35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart prepares deceit.”
