Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said,
2 “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].
Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
3 You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4 [By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
Yea, thou do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
5 [It is as though] your sins are telling you what to say; you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.
For thine iniquity teaches thy mouth. And thou choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished; so, it is not necessary for me to show that.
Thine own mouth condemns thee, and not I. Yes, thine own lips testify against thee.
7 [“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]?
Are thou the first man who was born? Or were thou brought forth before the hills?
8 Were you listening when God made all his plans? [SAR, RHQ] Or do you think that you are the only person who is wise?
Have thou heard the secret counsel of God? And do thou limit wisdom to thyself?
9 (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.
What do thou know, that we do not know? What do thou understand, which is not in us?
10 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.
With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than thy father.
11 God wants to comfort you, and to speak gently/kindly to you; (is that not enough for you/do you need more than that)?
Are the consolations of God too small for thee, even the word that is gentle toward thee?
12 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?
Why does thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
13 You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
that against God thou turn thy spirit, and let words go out of thy mouth?
14 “(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]
What is man, that he should be clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16 So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
17 Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
I will show thee. Hear thou me, and that which I have seen I will declare,
18 things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it,
19 God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise; no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].
to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them:
20 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.
The wicked man travails with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21 They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 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.
He does not believe that he shall return out of darkness. And he is awaited by the sword.
23 They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’ And they know that they will soon experience disasters.
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 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].
Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him as a king ready to the battle.
25 [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.
Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty.
26 They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
He runs upon him with a stiff neck, with the thick studs of his bucklers,
27 They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon his loins.
28 They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
And he has dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
29 But they will not remain rich very long; Everything that they own will be taken from them; their possessions will all disappear.
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30 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.
He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of God's mouth he shall go away.
31 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.
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself. For vanity shall be his recompense.
32 Before they are old, they will wither; they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 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.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.
34 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.
For the company of the hypocrites shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35 They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their heart prepares deceit.
