Job 15

Then answered ^aEliphaz the Temanite, and said,

²Should ^ba wise man utter vain knowledge,

And fill his ^cbelly with ^dthe east wind?

³Should he reason with ^ddunprofitable talk?

Or with speeches wherewith he ^ecan do no good?

⁴Yea, thou castest off ^ffear,

And restrainest prayer before God.

⁵For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity,

And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

^6gThine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;

Yea, thine own lips ^htestify against thee.

⁷Art thou the first man that was born?

Or ⁱwast thou made ^jbefore the hills?

⁸Hast thou heard ^kthe secret of God?

And dost thou ^lrestrain wisdom to thyself?

^9mWhat knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which is not in us?

¹⁰ⁿWith us are both the grayheaded and ^overy aged men,

Much elder than thy father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God small with thee?

Is there any secret thing with thee?

¹²Why doth thine heart carry thee away?

And what do thine eyes wink at,

¹³That thou turnest thy ^pspirit against God,

And lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

^14qWhat is man, that he should be clean?

And he which is ^rborn of a woman, that he should be righteous?

^15sBehold, he putteth no trust in his ^tsaints;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

^16uHow much more abominable and ^xfilthy

Is man, ^ywhich drinketh iniquity like water?

¹⁷I will shew thee, hear me;

And that which I have seen I will declare;

¹⁸Which wise men have ^ztold

^aFrom their fathers, and ^zhave not hid it:

¹⁹Unto whom alone the earth was given,

And ^bno stranger passed among them.

²⁰The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,

And the number of years ^cis hidden to the ^doppressor.

²¹A dreadful sound is in his ears:

^eIn prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

²²He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,

And he is waited for of the sword.

²³He ^fwandereth abroad for bread, ^gsaying, Where is it?

He knoweth that the day of darkness ^his ready at his hand.

²⁴Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid;

They shall ⁱprevail against him, ^jas a king ready to the battle.

²⁵For he stretcheth out his hand against God,

And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

²⁶He ^krunneth upon him, even ^lon his neck,

Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

²⁷Because he ^mcovereth his face with his fatness,

And maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities,

And in houses which no man inhabiteth,

Which are ready to become heaps.

²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,

Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness;

The flame shall dry up his ⁿbranches,

And ^oby the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

³¹Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity:

For vanity shall be his recompence.

³²It shall be accomplished ^pbefore his time,

And his ^qbranch shall not be green.

³³He shall ^rshake off his ^sunripe grape as the vine,

And shall cast off his ^sflower as the olive.

³⁴For ^tthe congregation of hypocrites shall be ^udesolate,

And fire shall consume the ^wtabernacles of bribery.

^35xThey conceive ^ymischief, and bring forth ^yvanity,

And their ^zbelly prepareth deceit.

XVI.