Job 15–17

15 Then answered aEliphaz the Temanite, and said,

2  Should ba wise man utter †vain knowledge,

And fill his cbelly with dthe east wind?

3  Should he reason with ddunprofitable talk?

Or with speeches wherewith he ecan do no good?

4  Yea, †thou castest off ffear,

And restrainest ||prayer before God.

5  For thy mouth †uttereth thine iniquity,

And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

6  gThine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I:

Yea, thine own lips htestify against thee.

7  Art thou the first man that was born?

Or iwast thou made jbefore the hills?

8  Hast thou heard kthe secret of God?

And dost thou lrestrain wisdom to thyself?

9  mWhat knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which is not in us?

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

Much elder than thy father.

11  Are the consolations of God small with thee?

Is there any secret thing with thee?

12  Why doth thine heart carry thee away?

And what do thy eyes wink at,

13  That thou turnest thy pspirit against God,

And lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

14  qWhat is man, that he should be clean?

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

15  sBehold, he putteth no trust in his tsaints;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

16  uHow much more abominable and xfilthy

Is man, ywhich drinketh iniquity like water?

17  I will shew thee, hear me;

And that which I have seen I will declare;

18  Which wise men have ztold

aFrom their fathers, and zhave not hid it:

19  Unto whom alone the earth was given,

And bno stranger passed among them.

20  The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,

And the number of years cis hidden to the doppressor.

21  †A dreadful sound is in his ears:

eIn prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

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

And he is waited for of the sword.

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

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

24  Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid;

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

25  For he stretcheth out his hand against God,

And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

26  He krunneth upon him, even lon his neck,

Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

27  Because he mcovereth his face with his fatness,

And maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

28  And he dwelleth in desolate cities,

And in houses which no man inhabiteth,

Which are ready to become heaps.

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

Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

30  He shall not depart out of darkness;

The flame shall dry up his nbranches,

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

31  Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity:

For vanity shall be his recompence.

32  It shall be ||accomplished pbefore his time,

And his qbranch shall not be green.

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

And shall cast off his sflower as the olive.

34  For tthe congregation of hypocrites shall be udesolate,

And fire shall consume the wtabernacles of bribery.

35  xThey conceive ymischief, and bring forth y||vanity,

And their zbelly prepareth deceit.

16 Then Job answered and said,

2  I have heard many asuch things:

||bMiserable comforters are ye all.

3  Shall †vain words have an end?

Or what cemboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

4  I also could speak as ye do:

If your soul were in my soul’s stead,

I could heap up words against you,

And dshake mine head at you.

5  But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the moving of my lips should asswage eyour grief.

6  Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged:

And though I forbear, †what am I eased?

7  But now he hath made me weary:

Thou hast made desolate all fmy company.

8  And thou hast gfilled me with wrinkles, which is a hwitness against me:

And my gileanness rising up in me

Beareth witness to my face.

9  kHe teareth me in his wrath, who lhateth me:

He mgnasheth upon me with his teeth;

Mine enemy nsharpeneth his eyes upon me.

10  They have ogaped upon me with their mouth;

They phave smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully;

They have gathered themselves together against me.

11  God †hath delivered me to the qungodly,

And rturned me over into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, but he hath sbroken me asunder:

He hath also taken me by my neck, and tshaken me to pieces,

And set me up for his umark.

13  His warchers compass me round about,

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He xpoureth out my gall upon the ground.

14  He breaketh me with ybreach upon breach,

He runneth upon me like a giant.

15  I have sewed zsackcloth upon my gskin,

And adefiled my horn in the dust.

16  My face bis foul with weeping,

And on my eyelids is cthe shadow of death;

17  dNot for any injustice in mine hands:

Also my prayer is pure.

18  O earth, ecover not thou my blood,

And let fmy cry have no place.

19  Also now, behold, gmy witness is in heaven,

And my record is †on high.

20  My friends †scorn me:

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

21  O that one might hplead for a man with God,

As a man pleadeth for his ||neighbour!

22  When †a few years are come,

Then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17 ||My breath is corrupt,

My days are aextinct,

bThe graves are ready for me.

2  Are there not mockers with me?

And doth not mine eye †continue in their provocation?

3  Lay down now, cput me in a surety with thee;

Who is he that dwill strike hands with me?

4  For thou hast hid their heart from understanding:

Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

5  He that speaketh flattery to his friends,

Even ethe eyes of his children shall fail.

6  He hath made me also fa byword of the people;

And ||aforetime I was as a tabret.

7  gMine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,

And all ||my members are has a shadow.

8  Upright men shall be iastonied at this,

And the innocent shall jstir up himself against the hypocrite.

9  The righteous also shall hold on his way,

And he that hath kclean hands †shall be stronger and stronger.

10  But as for you all, ldo ye return, and come now:

For I cannot find one wise man among you.

11  mMy days are past,

My purposes are nbroken off,

Even †the thoughts of my heart.

12  oThey change the night into day:

pThe light is †short qbecause of darkness.

13  If I wait, the grave is mine rhouse:

I have made my bed in the darkness.

14  I have †said to corruption, Thou art my father:

To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

15  And where is now my hope?

As for my hope, who shall see it?

16  They shall go down to the sbars of the pit,

tWhen our urest xtogether is in the dust.