Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
Then responded 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, answer unreal knowledge? or fill, with the east wind, his inner man?
3 You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
Disputing with discourse that doth no good, or with speech, wherein is no profit?
4 [By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
But, thou, wouldst take away reverence, and wouldst attain unto 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 thine own mouth would teach thine iniquity, and thou wouldst 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 shall condemn thee, and, not I, And, thine own lips, shall 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]?
The first of mankind, wast thou born? Or, before the hills, wast thou brought forth?
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?
In the secret council of GOD, hast thou been wont to hearken? Or canst thou attain for thyself unto wisdom?
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, and the same, 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 hoary and venerable, are among us, one mightier than thy 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)?
Too small for thee, are the consolations of GOD? or a word spoken gently with 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?
How doth thine own heart carry thee away, and how thine eyes do roll!
13 You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
For thy spirit, replieth against GOD, and thou bringest forth—out of thy mouth—words!
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 a mortal, that he should be pure? or that righteous should be one born of a woman?
15 Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
Lo! in his holy ones, he putteth not confidence, and, the heavens, are not 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].
How much less when one is detested and corrupt, a man who drinketh in—like water—perversity.
17 Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
I will tell thee—hear me, Since this I have seen, I must needs declare it.
18 things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
Which, wise men, tell, and deny not [that which is] 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 earth given, and no alien passed through 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 lawless man, he, doth writhe with pain, and, the number of years, is hidden from the tyrant;
21 They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
A noise of dreadful things, is in his ears, In prosperity, the destroyer cometh 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 hath no confidence to come back out of darkness, he, being destined to the power oft the sword;
23 They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’ And they know that they will soon experience disasters.
A wanderer, he, for bread, [saying] Where [is it]? He knoweth that, prepared by his own hand, is the 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].
Distress and anguish shall startle him, It shall overpower him, like a king ready for the onset:
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 had stretched out—against GOD—his hand, and, against the Almighty, had been wont to behave himself proudly;
26 They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
He used to run against him with uplifted neck, with the stout bosses of his bucklers;
27 They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
For he had covered his face with his fatness, and had gathered a superabundance on his loins;
28 They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
And had inhabited demolished cities, houses, wherein men would not dwell, that were destined 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, nor shall his substance continue, neither shall their shadow stretch along 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, his young branch, shall the flame dry up, and he shall depart, by the breath of his own 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.
Let no one trust in him that—by vanity—is deceived, 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.
Before his day, shall it be accomplished, with, his palm-top, not covered with leaves;
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 wrong—like a vine—his sour grapes, and shall cast off—as an olive-tree—his blossom.
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 family of the impious, is unfruitful, and, a fire, hath devoured the tents of bribery;
35 They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
Conceiving mischief, and bringing forth iniquity, yea, their inmost soul, prepareth deceit.
