Job 15

Eliphaz’s Second Response to Job

15Then^a Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,

and should he fill his stomach with the east wind?

³Should he argue in talk that is not profitable

or in words with which he cannot do good?

⁴“What is worse,^b you yourself^c are doing away with fear,

and you are lessening meditation before^d God.

⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

⁶Your mouth condemns you, and not I;

and your lips testify against you.

⁷“Were you born the firstborn of the human race?

And were you brought forth before^e the hills?

⁸Have you listened in God’s confidential discussion?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

¹⁰Both the gray-haired and the old are among us—

those older than your father.^f

¹¹“Are the consolations of God too small for you,

a word spoken gently with you?

¹²Why does your heart carry you away?

And why do your eyes flash,

¹³that you turn your spirit against God,

and you let such words go out of your mouth?

¹⁴“What is a human being, that he can be clean,

or^g that one born of a woman can be righteous?

¹⁵Look, he does not trust his holy ones,

and the heavens are not clean in his eyes.

¹⁶How much less^h he who is abominable and corrupt,ⁱ

a man drinking wickedness like water.

¹⁷“I will show you, listen to me;

and what I have seen, I will tell^j—

¹⁸what wise men have told,

and they have not hidden that which is from their ancestors,

¹⁹to whom alone^k the land was given,

and no stranger passed through their midst.

²⁰“All of the wicked one’s days he is writhing,

even^l through the number of years that are laid up for the tyrant.

²¹Sounds of terror are in his ears;

in prosperity the destroyer will come against him.

²²He cannot trust that he will return^m from darkness,

and he himselfⁿ is destined for the sword.

²³“He is wandering for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand.^o

²⁴Anguish and distress terrify him;

they^p overpower him like a king ready for the battle.

²⁵Because he stretched out his hand against God,

and he was arrogant to Shaddai;

²⁶he stubbornly^q runs against him

with his thick-bossed shield.^r

²⁷“Because he has covered his face with his fat

and has gathered fat upon his loins,

²⁸he will dwell^s in desolate cities,

in houses that they should not inhabit,

which are destined for rubble.

²⁹He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure,

and their possessions will not stretch across the earth.^t

³⁰“He will not escape from darkness;

a flame will dry up his new shoot,

and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.

³¹Let him not trust in emptiness—he will be deceiving himself—

for worthlessness will be his recompense.

³²It will be paid in full before his time,^u

and his branch will not flourish.

³³“He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine,

and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree;

³⁴for the company of the godless is barren,

and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

³⁵They conceive trouble and bring forth mischief,

and their womb prepares deceit.”