Job 15

Chapter 15

Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite ¹responded,

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge

^aAnd fill ¹himself with the east wind?

³“Should he argue with useless talk,

Or with words which are not profitable?

⁴“Indeed, you do away with ¹reverence

And hinder meditation before God.

⁵“For ^ayour guilt teaches your mouth,

And you choose the language of ^bthe crafty.

⁶“Your ^aown mouth condemns you, and not I;

And your own lips testify against you.

⁷“Were you the first man to be born,

Or ^awere you brought forth before the hills?

⁸“Do you hear the ^asecret counsel of God,

And limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹“^aWhat do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that ¹we do not?

¹⁰“Both the ^agray-haired and the aged are among us,

Older than your father.

¹¹“Are ^athe consolations of God too small for you,

Even the ^bword spoken gently with you?

¹²“Why does your ^aheart 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?

¹⁴“What is man, that ^ahe should be pure,

Or ^bhe who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵“Behold, He puts no trust in His ^aholy ones,

And the ^bheavens are not pure in His sight;

¹⁶How much less one who is ^adetestable and corrupt,

Man, who ^bdrinks 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 ^atheir fathers,

¹⁹To whom alone the land was given,

And no alien passed among them.

²⁰“The wicked man writhes ^ain pain all his days,

And ¹numbered are the years ^bstored up for the ruthless.

²¹“¹Sounds of ^aterror are in his ears;

^bWhile at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

²²“He does not believe that he will ^areturn from darkness,

And he is destined for ^bthe sword.

²³“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of ^adarkness is ¹at hand.

²⁴“Distress 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 ^aarrogantly against ¹the Almighty.

²⁶“He rushes ¹headlong at Him

With ²his massive shield.

²⁷“For he has ^acovered his face with his fat

And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

²⁸“He has ^alived in desolate cities,

In houses no one would inhabit,

Which are destined to become ¹ruins.

²⁹“He ^awill not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;

And his grain will not bend down to the ground.

³⁰“He will ^anot ¹escape from darkness;

The ^bflame will wither his shoots,

And by ^cthe breath of His mouth he will go away.

³¹“Let him not ^atrust in emptiness, deceiving himself;

For emptiness will be his ¹reward.

³²“It will be accomplished ^abefore his time,

And his palm ^bbranch will not be green.

³³“He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,

And will ^acast off his flower like the olive tree.

³⁴“For the company of ^athe godless is barren,

And fire consumes ^bthe tents of ¹the corrupt.

³⁵“They ^aconceive ¹mischief and bring forth iniquity,

And their ²mind prepares deception.”