Job 15
1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answers and says:
Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said,
2 “Does a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill his belly [with] an east wind?
Should a wise man utter windy knowledge, and fill his inward parts with the east wind?
3 To reason with a word not useful? And speeches—no profit in them?
Should he reason with a speech which availeth nothing? and with words in which there is no profit?
4 Indeed, you make reverence void, and diminish meditation before God.
Yea, thou truly makest void the fear [of God], and diminishest devotion before God.
5 For your mouth teaches your iniquity, And you choose the tongue of the cunning.
For thy iniquity teacheth thy mouth, so that thou choosest the language of the crafty.
6 Your mouth declares you wicked, and not I, And your lips testify against you.
Thy own mouth must condemn thee, but not I: yea, thy own lips will testify against thee.
7 Are you the first man born? And were you formed before the heights?
Wast thou born as the first man? or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you hear of the secret counsel of God? And withdraw wisdom to you?
Hast thou listened to the secret counsel of God? and is wisdom therefore of little esteem with thee?
9 What have you known, and we do not know? [What] do you understand, and it is not with us?
What knowest thou, that we do not know? what understandest thou, which is not with us?
10 Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us—Greater than your father [in] days.
Both the grayheaded and the very aged are among us, — richer than thy father in days.
11 Are the comforts of God too few for you? And a gentle word [is] with you,
Are the divine consolations too little for thee? and the word that was so mild with thee?
12 Why does your heart take you away? And why are your eyes high?
Whither doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes gaze at?
13 Do you turn your spirit against God? And have brought out words from your mouth:
That thou shouldst turn against God thy spirit, and utter [such] words out of thy mouth?
14 What [is] man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?
What is man, that he should be pure? and that he who is born of woman should be declared righteous?
15 Behold, He puts no credence in His holy ones, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.
Behold, in his holy ones he putteth no trust; and the heavens are not pure in his eyes:
16 Also—surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking perverseness as water.
How much more then the abominable and corrupt, the man who drinketh like water wrong-doing?
17 I show you—listen to me—And this I have seen and declare,
I will instruct thee, hear me; and what I have seen will I relate;
18 Which the wise declare—And have not hid—from their fathers.
Which wise men have ever told, and have not concealed, as they obtained it from their fathers;
19 To them alone was the land given, And a stranger did not pass over into their midst:
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and into whose midst no stranger ever entered.
20 All [the] days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.
All his days is the wicked plagued with pain, and the number of years which are laid by for the tyrant.
21 A fearful voice [is] in his ears, In peace a destroyer comes to him.
A sound of terrors is in his ears: during peace will the waster come over him.
22 He does not believe to return from darkness, And he watches for the sword.
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is looked for by the sword.
23 He is wandering for bread: Where [is] it? He has known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.
He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying, ] Where is it? he knoweth that there is ready at his hand the day of darkness.
24 Adversity and distress terrify him, They prevail over him as a king ready for a boaster.
Distress and anguish terrify him: they assail him with might, as a king prepared for the battle.
25 For he stretched out his hand against God, And against the Mighty he makes himself mighty.
Because he had stretched out against God his hand, and strengthened himself against the Almighty;
26 He runs to Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.
[And] he had run against him, with an [extended] neck, with the thick roundings of his bucklers;
27 For he has covered his face with his fat, And makes vigor over [his] confidence.
Because he had covered his face with his fat, and had made thick folds of fat on his flanks;
28 And he inhabits cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.
And he dwelt in abandoned cities, in houses which none inhabited, which were destined to be ruinous heaps.
29 He is not rich, nor does his wealth rise, Nor does he stretch out their continuance on earth.
[Yet] will he not remain rich, neither will his wealth endure, nor will he attain their perfection on earth.
30 He does not turn aside from darkness, A flame dries up his tender branch, And he turns aside at the breath of His mouth!
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.
31 Do not let him put credence in vanity, He has been deceived, For vanity is his exchange.
Let him that goeth astray not trust in vanity; for vanity will be what he obtaineth thereby.
32 It is not completed in his day, And his bending branch is not green.
Even before his time will it be overfull, and his branches will not be green.
33 He shakes off his unripe fruit as a vine, And casts off his blossom as an olive.
He will shake off like the vine his unripe grapes, and cast off like the olive his blossoms.
34 For the company of the profane [is] barren, And fire has consumed tents of bribery.
For the assembly of hypocrites will remain desolate, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart prepares deceit.”
They conceive trouble, and bring forth wrong-doing, and their body prepareth deceit.
