< Job 15 >

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
ויען אליפז התימני ויאמר
2 “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
החכם יענה דעת-רוח וימלא קדים בטנו
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?
הוכח בדבר לא-יסכון ומלים לא-יועיל בם
4 Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.
אף-אתה תפר יראה ותגרע שיחה לפני-אל
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
כי יאלף עונך פיך ותבחר לשון ערומים
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
ירשיעך פיך ולא-אני ושפתיך יענו-בך
7 “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?
הראישון אדם תולד ולפני גבעות חוללת
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
הבסוד אלוה תשמע ותגרע אליך חכמה
9 What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand which is not in us?
מה-ידעת ולא נדע תבין ולא-עמנו הוא
10 With us are both the grey-headed and the very aged men, much older than your father.
גם-שב גם-ישיש בנו-- כביר מאביך ימים
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle towards you?
המעט ממך תנחומות אל ודבר לאט עמך
12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
מה-יקחך לבך ומה-ירזמון עיניך
13 that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
כי-תשיב אל-אל רוחך והצאת מפיך מלין
14 What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
מה-אנוש כי-יזכה וכי-יצדק ילוד אשה
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
הן בקדשו לא יאמין ושמים לא-זכו בעיניו
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!
אף כי-נתעב ונאלח איש-שתה כמים עולה
17 “I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare
אחוך שמע-לי וזה-חזיתי ואספרה
18 (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;
אשר-חכמים יגידו ולא כחדו מאבותם
19 to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed amongst them):
להם לבדם נתנה הארץ ולא-עבר זר בתוכם
20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
כל-ימי רשע הוא מתחולל ומספר שנים נצפנו לעריץ
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer will come on him.
קול-פחדים באזניו בשלום שודד יבואנו
22 He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
לא-יאמין שוב מני-חשך וצפו (וצפוי) הוא אלי-חרב
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
נדד הוא ללחם איה ידע כי-נכון בידו יום-חשך
24 Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
יבעתהו צר ומצוקה תתקפהו כמלך עתיד לכידור
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
כי-נטה אל-אל ידו ואל-שדי יתגבר
26 he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers,
ירוץ אליו בצואר בעבי גבי מגניו
27 because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.
כי-כסה פניו בחלבו ויעש פימה עלי-כסל
28 He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
וישכון ערים נכחדות--בתים לא-ישבו למו אשר התעתדו לגלים
29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue, neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
לא-יעשר ולא-יקום חילו ולא-יטה לארץ מנלם
30 He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
לא-יסור מני-חשך--ינקתו תיבש שלהבת ויסור ברוח פיו
31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his reward.
אל-יאמן בשו נתעה כי-שוא תהיה תמורתו
32 It will be accomplished before his time. His branch will not be green.
בלא-יומו תמלא וכפתו לא רעננה
33 He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and will cast off his flower as the olive tree.
יחמס כגפן בסרו וישלך כזית נצתו
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
כי-עדת חנף גלמוד ואש אכלה אהלי-שחד
35 They conceive mischief and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”
הרה עמל וילד און ובטנם תכין מרמה

< Job 15 >