Job 15

1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 Should a wise man make 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 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

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

4 Yea, thou doest away with fear, and impairest devotion before God.

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

5 For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, and thou choosest 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; yea, thine own 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? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?

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

8 Dost thou hearken in the council of God? And dost thou restrain wisdom to 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 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much 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 that dealeth gently with 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 such 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 clean? 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; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

25 Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, and behaveth himself proudly 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 upon him with a stiff 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 Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, and made collops of fat on his loins;

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

28 And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man would inhabit, which were ready 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 be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their produce bend to 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, deceiving himself; for vanity shall be his recompense.

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

32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be leafy.

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

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