Job 15
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
2 Should a wise man utter windy knowledge, and fill his inward parts with the east wind?
“If you were truly wise [RHQ], you would not have replied to us by claiming that you know a lot; what you are saying is just a lot of hot air [MET].
3 Should he reason with a speech which availeth nothing? and with words in which there is no profit?
You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
4 Yea, thou truly makest void the fear [of God], and diminishest devotion before God.
[By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
5 For thy iniquity teacheth thy mouth, so that thou choosest the language of the crafty.
[It is as though] your sins are telling you what to say; you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.
6 Thy own mouth must condemn thee, but not I: yea, thy own lips will testify against thee.
Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished; so, it is not necessary for me to show that.
7 Wast thou born as the first man? or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
[“Tell me do you know more than everyone else because you think that] you are the first person who was ever born? [SAR, RHQ] Were you born before the hills [were created]?
8 Hast thou listened to the secret counsel of God? and is wisdom therefore of little esteem with thee?
Were you listening when God made all his plans? [SAR, RHQ] Or do you think that you are the only person who is wise?
9 What knowest thou, that we do not know? what understandest thou, which is not with us?
(What do you know that we do not know?/You do not know anything that we do not know.) [RHQ] You do not understand [RHQ] anything that is not also clear to us.
10 Both the grayheaded and the very aged are among us, — richer than thy father in days.
My friends and I are also wise; we acquired [wisdom] from old gray-haired people, from people who were born before your father was born.
11 Are the divine consolations too little for thee? and the word that was so mild with thee?
God wants to comfort you, and to speak gently/kindly to you; (is that not enough for you/do you need more than that)?
12 Whither doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes gaze at?
Why do you allow yourself to be (carried away/excited) by your emotions? Why are [you very angry, with the result that] your eyes flash?
13 That thou shouldst turn against God thy spirit, and utter [such] words out of thy mouth?
You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
14 What is man, that he should be pure? and that he who is born of woman should be declared righteous?
“(How can any person, [including you, ] be sinless?/No person, [including you], can be sinless.) [RHQ] (How can anyone on the earth be [completely] righteous?/No one on the earth can be [completely] righteous.) [RHQ]
15 Behold, in his holy ones he putteth no trust; and the heavens are not pure in his eyes:
Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
16 How much more then the abominable and corrupt, the man who drinketh like water wrong-doing?
So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
17 I will instruct thee, hear me; and what I have seen will I relate;
Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
18 Which wise men have ever told, and have not concealed, as they obtained it from their fathers;
things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and into whose midst no stranger ever entered.
God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise; no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].
20 All his days is the wicked plagued with pain, and the number of years which are laid by for the tyrant.
It is wicked people who suffer with great pain all the time that they are alive; that is what happens to those who (oppress/act violently toward) others.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears: during peace will the waster come over him.
They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is looked for by the sword.
Wicked people surely know that they will not escape from darkness/death, because [they are sure that someone] is waiting to kill them with a sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying, ] Where is it? he knoweth that there is ready at his hand the day of darkness.
They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’ And they know that they will soon experience disasters.
24 Distress and anguish terrify him: they assail him with might, as a king prepared for the battle.
Because they are afraid of those things happening to them, they are afraid and worry that these things will come to them like [the army of] a king comes to attack [their enemies and cause them to suffer] [SIM].
25 Because he had stretched out against God his hand, and strengthened himself against the Almighty;
[Those things happen to them] because they (shook their fists/dared to fight) against Almighty God, and thought that they were strong enough to defeat him.
26 [And] he had run against him, with an [extended] neck, with the thick roundings of his bucklers;
They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
27 Because he had covered his face with his fat, and had made thick folds of fat on his flanks;
They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
28 And he dwelt in abandoned cities, in houses which none inhabited, which were destined to be ruinous heaps.
They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
29 [Yet] will he not remain rich, neither will his wealth endure, nor will he attain their perfection on earth.
But they will not remain rich very long; Everything that they own will be taken from them; their possessions will all disappear.
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.
They will not escape from the darkness [of death]; they will be like trees whose branches are burned by fire and whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.
31 Let him that goeth astray not trust in vanity; for vanity will be what he obtaineth thereby.
Since they are very foolish, with the result that they trust in things that are really worthless, then things that are worthless will be all that they get.
32 Even before his time will it be overfull, and his branches will not be green.
Before they are old, they will wither; they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.
33 He will shake off like the vine his unripe grapes, and cast off like the olive his blossoms.
They will be like [SIM] vines whose grapes fall off before they are ripe, like olive trees whose blossoms fall off before they produce any fruit.
34 For the assembly of hypocrites will remain desolate, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
Wicked/godless people will not have any descendants, and fires will completely burn up the homes of [those who built those homes using] money they received from bribes.
35 They conceive trouble, and bring forth wrong-doing, and their body prepareth deceit.
They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
