Job 15
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose?
4 Hast not you moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.
5 You are guilty by the words of your mouth, neither have you discerned the words of the mighty.
For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
6 Let your own mouth, and not me, reprove you: and your lips shall testify against you.
Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.
7 What! are you the first man that was born? or were you established before the hills?
Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Or have you heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used you as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to you?
Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
9 For what know you, that, we know not? or what understand you, which we do not also?
What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 Truly amongst us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than your father.
Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side— men much older than your father.
11 You have been scourged for [but] few of your sins: you have spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?
12 What has your heart dared? or what have your eyes [aimed at],
Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
13 that you have vented [your] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [your] mouth?
as you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?
14 For who, being a mortal, [is such] that he shall be blameless? or, [who that is] born of a woman, that he should be just?
What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,
16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
17 But I will tell you, listen to me; I will tell you now what I have seen;
Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,
18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,
19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.
20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.
23 And he has been appointed to be food for vultures; and he knows within himself that he is doomed to be a carcass: and a dark day shall carry him away as with a whirlwind.
He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.
25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.
27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,
28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.
29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.
30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.
32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.
34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
