Job 15 / 42
- 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
- 2"Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
- 3Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?
- 4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.
- 5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
- 6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.
- 7"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
- 8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- 9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?
- 10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.
- 11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?
- 12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
- 13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?
- 14"What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
- 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
- 16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!
- 17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,
- 18what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers
- 19(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them):
- 20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
- 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.
- 22He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.
- 23He wanders about-food for vultures ; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
- 24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
- 25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
- 26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.
- 27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,
- 28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.
- 29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.
- 30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
- 31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.
- 32Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.
- 33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
- 34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
- 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit."