Job 15

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind,

Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,

3 Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good?

reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?

4 Yea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before God.

Hast not you moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?

5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.

You are guilty by the words of your mouth, neither have you discerned the words of the mighty.

6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee.

Let your own mouth, and not me, reprove you: and your lips shall testify against you.

7 Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills?

What! are you the first man that was born? or were you established before the hills?

8 Hast thou listened in the secret council of God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself?

Or have you heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used you as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to you?

9 What knowest thou that we know not? [what] understandest thou which is not in us?

For what know you, that, we know not? or what understand you, which we do not also?

10 Both the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father.

Truly among us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than your father.

11 Are the consolations of God too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee?

You have been scourged for [but] few of your sins: you have spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.

12 Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink?

What has your heart dared? or what have your eyes [aimed at],

13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest words go out of thy mouth?

that you have vented [your] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [your] mouth?

14 What is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

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?

15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight:

Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.

16 How much less the abominable and corrupt, — man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!

Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.

17 I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare;

But I will tell you, listen to me; I will tell you now what I have seen;

18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;

things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.

19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.

20 All his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent.

All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.

21 The sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him.

And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.

22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is singled out for the sword.

Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.

23 He wandereth abroad for bread, — where may it be? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

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.

24 Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.

Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.

25 For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty:

For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.

26 He runneth against him, with [outstretched] neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers;

And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.

27 For he hath covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon [his] flanks.

For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.

28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps.

And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.

29 He shall not become rich, neither shall his substance continue, and their possessions shall not extend upon the earth.

Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.

30 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.

Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.

31 Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense;

Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.

32 It shall be complete before his day, and his branch shall not be green.

His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.

33 He shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive.

And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.

34 For the family of the ungodly shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.

35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.