Job 15

1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:

Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,

2 Should a wise man answer with arguments of wind, Or fill his bosom 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 argue with speech that helpeth him not, And with words which do not profit him?

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

4 Behold, thou makest the fear of God a vain thing, And discouragest prayer before him.

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

5 Yea, thy own mouth proclaimeth thy iniquity, Though thou choosest the tongue 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 condemneth thee, and not I; Thy own lips testify against thee.

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

7 Art thou the first man that was born? Wast thou formed before the hills?

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

8 Hast thou listened in the council of God, And drawn all wisdom to thyself?

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 dost thou know, that we know not also? What dost thou understand, that is a secret to us?

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

10 With us are the aged and hoary-headed; Much older than thy father.

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

11 Dost thou despise the consolations of God, And words so full of kindness to thee?

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

12 Why hath thy passion taken possession of thee? And why this winking of thine eyes?

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

13 For against God hast thou turned thy spirit, And uttered such words from 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 he that is born of woman, that he should be innocent?

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 ministering spirits, And the heavens are not pure in his sight;

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

16 Much less, abominable and polluted man, Who drinketh iniquity as water.

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

17 Hear me, and I will show thee, And that which I have seen will I declare;

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

18 Which the wise men have told, And not kept concealed, as received from their fathers;

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

19 To whom alone the land was given, And among whom not a stranger wandered.

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

20 “All his days the wicked man is in pain; Yea, all the 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 fearful sound is in his ears; In peace the destroyer cometh upon him.

And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.

22 He hath no hope that he shall escape from darkness; He is set apart for 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 about, seeking bread; He knoweth that a day of darkness is at 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 fill him with dread; They prevail against him like a king ready for the battle.

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

25 Because he stretched forth his hand against God, And bade defiance to the Almighty,

For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.

26 And ran against him with outstretched 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 covered his face with fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins,

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

28 And dwelt in desolated cities, In houses which no man inhabiteth, That are 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; his substance shall not endure, And his possessions shall not be extended upon 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 escape from darkness, And the flame shall dry up his branches; Yea, by the breath of His mouth shall he be taken away.

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

31 “Let not man trust in vanity! he will be deceived; For vanity shall be his recompense.

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

32 He shall come to his end before his time, And his branch shall not be green.

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

33 He shall shake off his unripe fruit like the vine, And shed his blossoms like the olive-tree.

And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.

34 The house of the unrighteous shall be famished, 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 misery, And their breast deviseth deceit.”

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