Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said,
2 “Should a wise man answer with useless knowledge and fill himself with the east wind?
Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches with which he can do no good?
Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with sayings which have no value?
4 Indeed, you diminish respect for God; you obstruct devotion to him,
Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.
5 for your iniquity teaches your mouth; you choose to have the tongue of a crafty man.
For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; indeed, your own lips testify against you.
It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you.
7 Are you the first man that was born? Were you brought into existence before the hills?
Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret knowledge of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not also in us?
What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men who are much older than your father.
With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, the words that are gentle toward you?
Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;
13 so that you turn your spirit against God and bring out such words from your mouth?
So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman that he should be righteous?
What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright?
15 See, God puts no trust even in his holy ones; indeed, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;
16 how much less clean is one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!
17 I will show you; listen to me; I will announce to you the things I have seen,
Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:
18 the things that wise men have passed down from their fathers, the things that their ancestors did not hide.
(The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;
19 These were their ancestors, to whom alone the land was given, and among whom no stranger ever passed.
For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them: )
20 The wicked man twists in pain all his days, the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor to suffer.
The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; while he is in prosperity, the destroyer will come upon him.
A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:
22 He does not think that he will return out of darkness; the sword waits for him.
He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;
23 He goes to various places for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is at hand.
He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him:
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for battle.
He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him:
25 Because he has reached out with his hand against God and has behaved proudly against the Almighty,
Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all,
26 this wicked man runs at God with a stiff neck, with a thick shield.
Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,
27 This is true, even though he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat on his loins,
Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has become thick;
28 and has lived in desolate cities; in houses which no man inhabits now and which were ready to become heaps.
And he has made his resting-place in the towns which have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate was to become masses of broken walls.
29 He will not be rich; his wealth will not last and his possessions will not spread over the land.
He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth.
30 He will not depart out of darkness; a flame will dry up his stalks; at the breath of God's mouth he will go away.
He does not come out of the dark; his branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud.
31 Let him not trust in useless things, deceiving himself; for uselessness will be his reward.
Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.
32 It will happen before his time should come to die; his branch will not be green.
His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.
33 He will drop his unripe grapes like a grapevine; he will cast off his flowers like the olive tree.
He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers.
34 For the company of godless people will be barren; fire will consume their tents of bribery.
For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.
35 They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity; their womb conceives deceit.”
Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.
