Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
“Would a wise man answer with such empty ‘knowledge’ that is just a lot of hot air?
3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
He wouldn't argue with unprofitable speeches using words that do no good.
4 Hast not you moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
But you are doing away with the fear of God, and destroying communion with him.
5 You are guilty by the words of your mouth, neither have you discerned the words of the mighty.
It's your sins that are doing the talking, and you are choosing deceptive words.
6 Let your own mouth, and not me, reprove you: and your lips shall testify against you.
Your own mouth is condemning you, not me; your own lips are testifying against you.
7 What! are you the first man that was born? or were you established before the hills?
Were you the very first person to be born? Were you born before the hills were created?
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?
Were you there listening in God's council? Does wisdom only belong to you?
9 For what know you, that, we know not? or what understand you, which we do not also?
What do you know that we don't? What do you understand that we don't?
10 Truly among us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than your father.
We have among us old, gray-haired people much older than your father!
11 You have been scourged for [but] few of your sins: you have spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Are the comforts God provides too little for you? Are God's gentle words not enough for you?
12 What has your heart dared? or what have your eyes [aimed at],
Why do you let yourself be carried away by your emotions?
13 that you have vented [your] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [your] mouth?
Why do your eyes flash in anger that you turn against God and let yourself speak this way?
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?
Who can say they are clean? Which human being can say that they do what is right?
15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
Look, God doesn't even trust his angels—even the heavenly beings are not pure in his sight!
16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
How much less pure are those who are unclean and corrupt, drinking in sin like water!
17 But I will tell you, listen to me; I will tell you now what I have seen;
If you are ready to listen to me, I will show you. I will explain my insights.
18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
This is what wise men have said, confirmed by their ancestors,
19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
those who to whom alone the land was given before foreigners ever were there.
20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
The wicked writhe in pain all their lives, through all the years these oppressors survive.
21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
Terrifying sounds fill their ears; even when they think they're safe, the destroyer will attack them.
22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
They don't believe they will escape the darkness—they know a sword is waiting for them.
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.
They wander around looking for food, asking ‘Where is it?’ They know that their day of darkness is close at hand.
24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Misery and torment overwhelm them like a king preparing for battle.
25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
They shake their fists in God's face, defiantly challenging the Almighty,
26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
insolently attacking him with their shields.
27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
They have become fat in their rebellion, their bellies bloated with fat.
28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
But their cities will become desolate; they will live in abandoned houses that are crumbling into ruins.
29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
They will lose their riches, their wealth will not endure, their possessions will not spread over the earth.
30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
They will not escape from the darkness. Like a tree whose shoots are burned up in a forest fire, the breath of God will blow him away.
31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
They should not trust in things that are worthless, for their reward will be worthless.
32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
This will be paid in full before their time has come. They are like tree branches that wither,
33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
like vines that lose their unripe grapes, or olive trees that lose their flowers.
34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
For those who reject God are barren, and fire will burn up the homes of those who love bribes.
35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
They plan trouble and produce evil, giving birth to deception.”
