< Job 15 >
1 Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:
2 Should, a wise man, answer unreal knowledge? or fill, with the east wind, his inner man?
3 Disputing with discourse that doth no good, or with speech, wherein is no profit?
4 But, thou, wouldst take away reverence, and wouldst attain unto meditation before GOD.
5 For thine own mouth would teach thine iniquity, and thou wouldst choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth shall condemn thee, and, not I, And, thine own lips, shall testify against thee.
7 The first of mankind, wast thou born? Or, before the hills, wast thou brought forth?
8 In the secret council of GOD, hast thou been wont to hearken? Or canst thou attain for thyself unto wisdom?
9 What knowest thou, that we know not? [What] understandest thou, and the same, is not with us?
10 Both hoary and venerable, are among us, one mightier than thy father in days!
11 Too small for thee, are the consolations of GOD? or a word spoken gently with thee?
12 How doth thine own heart carry thee away, and how thine eyes do roll!
13 For thy spirit, replieth against GOD, and thou bringest forth—out of thy mouth—words!
14 What is a mortal, that he should be pure? or that righteous should be one born of a woman?
15 Lo! in his holy ones, he putteth not confidence, and, the heavens, are not pure in his eyes:
16 How much less when one is detested and corrupt, a man who drinketh in—like water—perversity.
17 I will tell thee—hear me, Since this I have seen, I must needs declare it.
18 Which, wise men, tell, and deny not [that which is] from their fathers.
19 To them alone, was the earth given, and no alien passed through their midst:
20 All the days of the lawless man, he, doth writhe with pain, and, the number of years, is hidden from the tyrant;
21 A noise of dreadful things, is in his ears, In prosperity, the destroyer cometh upon him;
22 He hath no confidence to come back out of darkness, he, being destined to the power oft the sword;
23 A wanderer, he, for bread, [saying] Where [is it]? He knoweth that, prepared by his own hand, is the day of darkness;
24 Distress and anguish shall startle him, It shall overpower him, like a king ready for the onset:
25 Because he had stretched out—against GOD—his hand, and, against the Almighty, had been wont to behave himself proudly;
26 He used to run against him with uplifted neck, with the stout bosses of his bucklers;
27 For he had covered his face with his fatness, and had gathered a superabundance on his loins;
28 And had inhabited demolished cities, houses, wherein men would not dwell, that were destined to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, nor shall his substance continue, neither shall their shadow stretch along on the earth;
30 He shall not depart out of darkness, his young branch, shall the flame dry up, and he shall depart, by the breath of his own mouth!
31 Let no one trust in him that—by vanity—is deceived, for, vanity, shall be his recompense;
32 Before his day, shall it be accomplished, with, his palm-top, not covered with leaves;
33 He shall wrong—like a vine—his sour grapes, and shall cast off—as an olive-tree—his blossom.
34 For, the family of the impious, is unfruitful, and, a fire, hath devoured the tents of bribery;
35 Conceiving mischief, and bringing forth iniquity, yea, their inmost soul, prepareth deceit.