Job 15
Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,
2“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge
And fill himself with the east wind?
3Should he argue with useless talk,
Or with words which are not profitable?
4Indeed, you do away with reverence
And hinder meditation before God.
5For your guilt teaches your mouth,
And you choose the language of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
And your own lips testify against you.
7“Were you the first man to be born,
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
8Do you hear the secret counsel of God,
And limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that we do not?
10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
Even the word spoken gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away?
And why do your eyes flash,
13That you should turn your spirit against God
And allow such words to go out of your mouth?
14What is man, that he should be pure,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight;
16How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,
Man, who drinks iniquity like water!
What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life
17“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;
18What wise men have told,
And have not concealed from their fathers,
19To whom alone the land was given,
And no alien passed among them.
20The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.
21Sounds of terror are in his ears;
While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.
22He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
And he is destined for the sword.
23He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.
24Distress and anguish terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,
25Because he has stretched out his hand against God
And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty.
26He rushes headlong at Him
With his massive shield.
27For he has covered his face with his fat
And made his thighs heavy with flesh.
28He has lived in desolate cities,
In houses no one would inhabit,
Which are destined to become ruins.
29He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his grain will not bend down to the ground.
30He will not escape from darkness;
The flame will wither his shoots,
And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
For emptiness will be his reward.
32It will be accomplished before his time,
And his palm branch will not be green.
33He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,
And will cast off his flower like the olive tree.
34For the company of the godless is barren,
And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt.
35They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,
And their mind prepares deception.”