Job 15
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
Then Eliphaz replied to Job:
2 Should a wise men utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
“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].
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches with which he can do no good?
You should not [RHQ] be saying things that do not benefit anyone, using words that do no one any good.
4 Yes, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
[By what you say, ] you show that you do not revere God, and you are hindering people from meditating/thinking about God.
5 For thy mouth uttereth thy iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
[It is as though] your sins are telling you what to say; you talk like people who will not admit that they are wicked.
6 Thy own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yes, thy own lips testify against thee.
Everything that you say [MTY] shows that you should be punished; so, it is not necessary for me to show that.
7 [Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
[“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]?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
Were you listening when God made all his plans? [SAR, RHQ] Or do you think that you are the only person who is wise?
9 What knowest thou that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us?
(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.
10 With us [are] both the gray headed and very aged men, much older than thy father.
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.
11 [Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
God wants to comfort you, and to speak gently/kindly to you; (is that not enough for you/do you need more than that)?
12 Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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?
13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth?
You are angry [IDM] with God, and so you [MTY] are criticizing/denouncing him.
14 What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he who is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
“(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]
15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
Hey, God does not even trust his angels; he does not consider even them to be [completely] pure.
16 How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, who drinketh iniquity like water?
So, he certainly does not [trust] abominable/disgusting and depraved/corrupt people who do evil things [as easily] as they drink water [MET].
17 I will show thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen, I will declare;
Job, listen to what I will tell you. I will declare to you what I know,
18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]:
things that wise men have told me, truths that their ancestors did not keep hidden.
19 To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
God gave this land to those ancestors, who were truly wise; no one from another country caused them to think wrongly [IDM].
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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.
21 A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
They constantly hear sounds that terrify them; while they are prospering, bandits attack them.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.
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.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
They wander around, searching for food, saying ‘Where can I find some?’ And they know that they will soon experience disasters.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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].
25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
[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.
26 He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
They stubbornly [IDM] rush to attack God [as though they were carrying] a strong shield [to protect themselves].
27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks.
They are so fat [that they are unable to fight].
28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
They will live in cities that have been abandoned, cities which have become a heap of ruins.
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection of it upon the earth.
But they will not remain rich very long; Everything that they own will be taken from them; their possessions will all disappear.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
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.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.
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.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
Before they are old, they will wither; they will be like [MET] branches that wither and never become green again.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
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.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
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.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
They plan to cause trouble and to do evil things, and they are always preparing to deceive people.”
