| 15:1 |
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, |
| 15:2 |
"Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? |
| 15:3 |
Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good? |
| 15:4 |
Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God. |
| 15:5 |
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. |
| 15:6 |
Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you. |
| 15:7 |
"Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? |
| 15:8 |
Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? |
| 15:9 |
What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand, which is not in us? |
| 15:10 |
With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father. |
| 15:11 |
Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you? |
| 15:12 |
Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash, |
| 15:13 |
That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth? |
| 15:14 |
What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
| 15:15 |
Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight; |
| 15:16 |
how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water! |
| 15:17 |
"I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare: |
| 15:18 |
(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it; |
| 15:19 |
to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them): |
| 15:20 |
the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. |
| 15:21 |
A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him. |
| 15:22 |
He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword. |
| 15:23 |
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. |
| 15:24 |
Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. |
| 15:25 |
Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty; |
| 15:26 |
he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers; |
| 15:27 |
because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs. |
| 15:28 |
He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps. |
| 15:29 |
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. |
| 15:30 |
He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away. |
| 15:31 |
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward. |
| 15:32 |
It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green. |
| 15:33 |
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree. |
| 15:34 |
For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery. |
| 15:35 |
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit." |
