Job 15
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:
Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
2 Should a wise man answer with arguments of wind, Or fill his bosom 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 argue with speech that helpeth him not, And with words which do not profit him?
You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
4 Behold, thou makest the fear of God a vain thing, And discouragest prayer before him.
[By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
5 Yea, thy own mouth proclaimeth thy iniquity, Though thou choosest the tongue 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 condemneth thee, and not I; Thy own lips 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 Art thou the first man that was born? Wast thou formed 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 in the council of God, And drawn all wisdom to thyself?
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 dost thou know, that we know not also? What dost thou understand, that is a secret to 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 With us are the aged and hoary-headed; Much older than thy father.
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 Dost thou despise the consolations of God, And words so full of kindness to 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 Why hath thy passion taken possession of thee? And why this winking of thine eyes?
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 For against God hast thou turned thy spirit, And uttered such words from 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 he that is born of woman, that he should be innocent?
“(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, He putteth no trust in his ministering spirits, And the heavens are not pure in his sight;
Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
16 Much less, abominable and polluted man, Who drinketh iniquity as water.
So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
17 Hear me, and I will show thee, And that which I have seen will I declare;
Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
18 Which the wise men have told, And not kept concealed, as received from their fathers;
things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
19 To whom alone the land was given, And among whom not a stranger wandered.
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 the wicked man is in pain; Yea, all the years, that are laid up for the oppressor.
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 fearful sound is in his ears; In peace the destroyer cometh upon him.
They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
22 He hath no hope that he shall escape from darkness; He is set apart for 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 about, seeking bread; He knoweth that a day of darkness is at hand.
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 fill him with dread; They prevail against him like a king ready 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 stretched forth his hand against God, And bade defiance to 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 ran against him with outstretched neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
27 Because he covered his face with fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins,
They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
28 And dwelt in desolated cities, In houses which no man inhabiteth, That are ready to become heaps.
They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
29 He shall not be rich; his substance shall not endure, And his possessions shall not be extended upon the 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 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.
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 not man trust in vanity! he will be deceived; For vanity shall be his recompense.
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 He shall come to his end before his time, And his branch shall 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 shall shake off his unripe fruit like the vine, And shed his blossoms like the olive-tree.
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 The house of the unrighteous shall be famished, And fire shall 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 mischief, and bring forth misery, And their breast deviseth deceit.”
They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
