Job 15

1 Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 Should a wise man utter windy knowledge, and fill his inward parts 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 a speech which availeth nothing? and with words in which there is no profit?

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

4 Yea, thou truly makest void the fear [of God], and diminishest devotion before God.

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

5 For thy iniquity teacheth thy mouth, so that thou choosest the language of the crafty.

Thou art guilty by the words of thy mouth, neither hast thou discerned the words of the mighty.

6 Thy own mouth must condemn thee, but not I: yea, thy own lips will testify against thee.

Let thine own mouth, and not me, reprove thee: and thy lips shall testify against thee.

7 Wast thou born as the first man? or wast thou brought forth before the hills?

What! art thou the first man that was born? or wert thou established before the hills?

8 Hast thou listened to the secret counsel of God? and is wisdom therefore of little esteem with thee?

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

9 What knowest thou, that we do not know? what understandest thou, which is not with us?

For what knowest thou, that, we know not? or what understandest thou, which we do not also?

10 Both the grayheaded and the very aged are among us, — richer than thy father in days.

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

11 Are the divine consolations too little for thee? and the word that was so mild with thee?

Thou hast been scourged for [but] few of thy sins: thou hast spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.

12 Whither doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes gaze at?

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

13 That thou shouldst turn against God thy spirit, and utter [such] words out of thy mouth?

that thou hast vented [thy] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [thy] mouth?

14 What is man, that he should be pure? and that he who is born of woman should be declared 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, in his holy ones he putteth no trust; and the heavens are not pure in his eyes:

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

16 How much more then the abominable and corrupt, the man who drinketh like water wrong-doing?

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

17 I will instruct thee, hear me; and what I have seen will I relate;

But I will tell thee, hearken to me; I will tell thee now what I have seen;

18 Which wise men have ever told, and have not concealed, as they obtained it from their fathers;

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

19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and into whose midst no stranger ever entered.

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

20 All his days is the wicked plagued with pain, and the number of years which are laid by for the tyrant.

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: during peace will the waster come over 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 looked for by 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, [saying, ] Where is it? he knoweth that there is ready at his hand the day of darkness.

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 terrify him: they assail him with might, as a king prepared for the battle.

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

25 Because he had stretched out against God his hand, 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 [And] he had run against him, with an [extended] neck, with the thick roundings of his bucklers;

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

27 Because he had covered his face with his fat, and had made thick folds of fat on his flanks;

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

28 And he dwelt in abandoned cities, in houses which none inhabited, which were destined to be ruinous heaps.

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

29 [Yet] will he not remain rich, neither will his wealth endure, nor will he attain their perfection on earth.

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

30 He will never depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his shoots, and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth.

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

31 Let him that goeth astray not trust in vanity; for vanity will be what he obtaineth thereby.

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

32 Even before his time will it be overfull, and his branches will not be green.

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

33 He will shake off like the vine his unripe grapes, and cast off like the olive his blossoms.

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 assembly of hypocrites will remain desolate, and fire will 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 trouble, and bring forth wrong-doing, and their body prepareth deceit.

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