Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, 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 wherewith 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 doest away with fear, And hinderest 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 teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest 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 condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, 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]?
Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast 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?
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost 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 knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, 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 elder 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 doth 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 turnest thy spirit, And lettest 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 that 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 putteth 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 that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh 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].
Unto 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 travaileth 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 believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of 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 wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where is it? He knoweth 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 hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth 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 runneth upon him with a [stiff] neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
Because he hath 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 hath 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 shall he 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 godless 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 prepareth deceit.
