Job 15

¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith:— ²Doth a wise man answer with vain knowledge? And fill with an east wind his belly? ³To reason with a word not useful? And speeches—no profit in them? ⁴Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God. ⁵For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile. ⁶Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee. ⁷The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed? ⁸Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom? ⁹What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou—and it is not with us? ¹⁰Both the gray-headed And the very aged are among us—Greater than thy father in days. ¹¹Too few for thee are the comforts of God? And a gentle word is with thee, ¹²What—doth thine heart take thee away? And what—are thine eyes high? ¹³For thou turnest against God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy mouth: ¹⁴What is man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman? ¹⁵Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes. ¹⁶Also—surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.

¹⁷I shew thee—hearken to me—And this I have seen and declare: ¹⁸Which the wise declare—And have not hid—from their fathers. ¹⁹To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst: ²⁰‘All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one. ²¹A fearful voice is in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him. ²²He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched is he for the sword. ²³He is wandering for bread—‘Where is it?’ He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness. ²⁴Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster. ²⁵For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty. ²⁶He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields. ²⁷For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over his confidence. ²⁸And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps. ²⁹He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance. ³⁰He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth! ³¹Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence. ³²Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green. ³³He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom. ³⁴For the company of the profane is gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery. ³⁵To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.

Chapter 16