Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
And Eliphaz the Temanite answers and says:
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].
“Does a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill his belly [with] an east wind?
3 You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
To reason with a word not useful? And speeches—no profit in them?
4 [By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
Indeed, you make reverence void, and diminish meditation 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 your mouth teaches your iniquity, And you choose the tongue of the cunning.
6 Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished; so, it is not necessary for me to show that.
Your mouth declares you wicked, and not I, And your lips testify against you.
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 you the first man born? And were you formed before the heights?
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?
Do you hear of the secret counsel of God? And withdraw wisdom to you?
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 have you known, and we do not know? [What] do you understand, and it is not with 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.
Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us—Greater than your father [in] days.
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 comforts of God too few for you? And a gentle word [is] with you,
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 your heart take you away? And why are your eyes high?
13 You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
Do you turn your spirit against God? And have brought out words from your 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 is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?
15 Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
Behold, He puts no credence in His holy ones, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.
16 So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
Also—surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking perverseness as water.
17 Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
I show you—listen to me—And this I have seen and declare,
18 things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
Which the wise declare—And have not hid—from their fathers.
19 God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise; no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].
To them alone was the land given, And a stranger did not pass over into their midst:
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.
All [the] days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.
21 They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
A fearful voice [is] in his ears, In peace a destroyer comes to 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 to return from darkness, And he watches for 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 is wandering for bread: Where [is] it? He has known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.
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].
Adversity and distress terrify him, They prevail over him as a king ready for a boaster.
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.
For he stretched out his hand against God, And against the Mighty he makes himself mighty.
26 They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
He runs to Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.
27 They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
For he has covered his face with his fat, And makes vigor over [his] confidence.
28 They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
And he inhabits cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been 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 is not rich, nor does his wealth rise, Nor does he stretch out their continuance on 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 does not turn aside from darkness, A flame dries up his tender branch, And he turns aside at the breath of His mouth!
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.
Do not let him put credence in vanity, He has been deceived, For vanity is his exchange.
32 Before they are old, they will wither; they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.
It is not completed in his day, And his bending branch is not 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 shakes off his unripe fruit as a vine, And casts off his blossom as an olive.
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 profane [is] barren, And fire has consumed tents of bribery.
35 They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart prepares deceit.”
