Eliphaz Says Job’s Lips Answer Against Him

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge

And fill his belly with the east wind?

³“Should he argue with a word that cannot be used,

Or with speech which is not profitable?

⁴“Indeed, you annul reverent fear

And cut off musing before God.

⁵“For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

⁶“Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

And your own lips answer against you.

⁷¶“Were you the first man to be born,

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸“Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And cut down wisdom only unto yourself?

⁹“What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not with us?

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

Older than your father.

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

Even the word spoken gently with you?

¹²“Why does your heart take 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 he should be pure,

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

¹⁵“Behold, He puts no faith in His holy ones,

And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

¹⁶How much less one who is abominable and corrupt,

Man, who drinks unrighteousness like water!

¹⁷¶“I will tell you, listen to me;

And what I have beheld I will also recount;

¹⁸What wise men have told,

And have not concealed from their fathers,

¹⁹To whom alone the land was given,

And no stranger passed among them.

²⁰“The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

²¹“Sounds of dread are in his ears;[#15:21 Lit A sound of dreads]

While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

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

And he is destined for the sword.

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

He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his 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 magnifies himself against the Almighty.

²⁶“He rushes headlong at Him[#15:26 Lit with a stiff neck]

With his massive shield.

²⁷“For he has covered his face with his fat

And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

²⁸“He has dwelt in desolate cities,

In houses no one would inhabit,

Which are destined to become ruins.

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

And his grain will not stretch out over the land.

³⁰“He will not be able to depart from darkness;[#15:30 Lit turn aside]

The flame will wither his shoots,

And by the breath of His mouth he will depart.

³¹“Let him not believe in emptiness, deceiving himself;

For emptiness will be his reward,

³²When his days are not yet fulfilled,

And his palm branch is not green.

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

And will cast off his flower like the olive tree.

³⁴“For the company of the godless is barren,

And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt.

³⁵“They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness,[#15:35 Or pain , mischief]

And their belly prepares deception.”