Job 15

SECOND SERIES OF SPEECHES

ELIPHAZ SPEAKS

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Does a wise man answer with empty counsel^o

or fill himself^B with the hot east wind?

³Should he argue^p with useless talk

or with words that serve no good purpose?

⁴But you even undermine the fear of God

and hinder meditation before him.

⁵Your iniquity^q teaches you what to say,

and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not I;

your own lips testify against you.^r

⁷Were you the first human ever born,

or were you brought forth before the hills?^s

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God,

or have a monopoly on wisdom?^t

⁹What do you know that we don’t?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

¹⁰Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us—

older than your father.

¹¹Are God’s consolations not enough for you,

even the words that deal gently with you?

¹²Why has your heart misled you,

and why do your eyes flash

¹³as you turn your anger^A against God

and allow such words to leave your mouth?

¹⁴What is a mere human, that he should be pure,^a

or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵If God puts no trust in his holy ones^b

and the heavens are not pure in his sight,^c

¹⁶how much less one who is revolting and corrupt,^d

who drinks injustice^e like water?

¹⁷Listen to me and I will inform you.

I will describe what I have seen,

¹⁸what the wise have declared and not concealed,

that came from their ancestors,^f

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them.

²⁰A wicked person writhes in pain all his days,

throughout the number of years reserved for the ruthless.

²¹Dreadful sounds fill his ears;

when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.

²²He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness;

he is destined for the sword.^g

²³He wanders about for food, asking, “Where is it?”

He knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Trouble^h and distress terrify him,

overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.

²⁵For he has stretched out his handⁱ against God

and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.

²⁶He rushes headlong at him

with his thick, studded shields.

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat^B

and his waistline bulges with it,

²⁸he will dwell in ruined cities,

in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.^j

²⁹He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.

His possessions^A will not increase in the land.

³⁰He will not escape from the darkness;

flames will wither his shoots,

and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.^k

³¹Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,

for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.

³²It will be accomplished before his time,

and his branch will not flourish.

³³He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes^l

and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

³⁴For the company of the godless^m will have no children,

and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.

³⁵They conceive troubleⁿ and give birth to evil;

their womb^o prepares deception.^p