Eliphaz’s Second Speech

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,[#tn The Hebrew is דַעַת־רוּחַ (da’at-ruakh). This means knowledge without any content, vain knowledge.]

or fill his belly with the east wind?

³Does he argue with useless talk,[#tn The infinitive absolute in this place is functioning either as an explanatory adverb or as a finite verb.sn Eliphaz draws on Job’s claim with this word (cf. Job 13:3), but will declare it hollow.; #tn The verb סָכַן (sakhan) means “to be useful, profitable.” It is found 5 times in the book with this meaning. The Hiphil of יָעַל (ya’al) has the same connotation. E. LipinÃski offers a new meaning on a second root, “incur danger” or “run risks” with words, but this does not fit the parallelism (FO 21 [1980]: 65-82).]

with words that have no value in them?

⁴But you even break off piety,[#tn The word פָּרַר (parar) in the Hiphil means “to annul; to frustrate; to destroy; to break,” and this fits the line quite well. The NEB reflects G. R. Driver’s suggestion of an Arabic cognate meaning “to expel; to banish” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 77).; #tn Heb “fear,” “reverence.”]

and hinder meditation before God.

⁵Your sin inspires your mouth;[#tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”]

you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not I;[#tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”]

your own lips testify against you.

⁷“Were you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Do you listen in on God’s secret council?[#tn The meaning of סוֹד (sod) is “confidence.” In the context the implication is “secret counsel” of the Lord God (see Jer 23:18). It is a question of confidence on the part of God, that only wisdom can know (see Prov 8:30,31). Job seemed to them to claim to have access to the mind of God.]

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we don’t know?

What do you understand that we don’t understand?

¹⁰The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,[#tn The participle שָׂב (sav), from שִׂיב (siv, “to have white hair”; 1 Sam 12:2), only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in the Aramaic sections of Ezra. The word יָשִׁישׁ (yashish, “aged”) occurred in 12:12.; #tn Heb “with us.”]

men far older than your father.

¹¹Are God’s consolations too trivial for you;[#sn The word תַּנְחֻמוֹת (tankhumot) occurs here and only in Job 21:34. The words of comfort and consolation that they have been offering to Job are here said to be “of God.” But Job will call them miserable comforters (16:2).; #tn The formula “is it too little for you” or “is it too slight a matter for you” is also found in Isa 7:13 (see GKC 430 §133.c).]

or a word spoken in gentleness to you?

¹²Why has your heart carried you away,[#tn The interrogative מָה (mah) here has the sense of “why?” (see Job 7:21).; #tn The verb simply means “to take.” The RSV has “carry you away.” E. Dhorme (Job, 212-13) goes further, saying that it implies being unhinged by passion, to be carried away by the passions beyond good sense (pp. 212-13). Pope and Tur-Sinai suggest that the suffix on the verb is datival, and translate it, “What has taken from you your mind?” But the parallelism shows that “your heart” and “your eyes” are subjects.]

and why do your eyes flash,

¹³when you turn your rage against God[#tn The Hebrew is רוּחֶךָ (rukhekha, “your spirit” or “your breath”). But the fact that this is turned “against God,” means that it must be given a derived meaning, or a meaning that is metonymical. It is used in the Bible in the sense of anger – what the spirit vents (see Judg 8:3; Prov 16:32; and Job 4:9 with “blast”).]

and allow such words to escape from your mouth?

¹⁴What is man that he should be pure,

or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵If God places no trust in his holy ones,[#tn Eliphaz here reiterates the point made in Job 4:18.]

if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

¹⁶how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,[#tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).]

who drinks in evil like water!

¹⁷“I will explain to you;

listen to me,

and what I have seen, I will declare,

¹⁸what wise men declare,

hiding nothing,

from the tradition of their ancestors,

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them.

²⁰All his days the wicked man suffers torment,[#tn Heb “all the days of the wicked, he suffers.” The word “all” is an adverbial accusative of time, stating along with its genitives (“of the days of a wicked man”) how long the individual suffers. When the subject is composed of a noun in construct followed by a genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees with the genitive (see GKC 467 §146.a).; #tn The Hebrew term מִתְחוֹלֵל (mitkholel) is a Hitpolel participle from חִיל (khil, “to tremble”). It carries the idea of “torment oneself,” or “be tormented.” Some have changed the letter ח (khet) for a letter ה (he), and obtained the meaning “shows himself mad.” Theodotion has “is mad.” Syriac (“behave arrogantly,” apparently confusing Hebrew חול with חלל; Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job [SBLDS], 277), Symmachus, and Vulgate have “boasts himself.” But the reading of the MT is preferable.]

throughout the number of the years

that are stored up for the tyrant.

²¹Terrifying sounds fill his ears;[#tn The word “fill” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.]

in a time of peace marauders attack him.

²²He does not expect to escape from darkness;[#tn This is the meaning of the Hiphil imperfect negated: “he does not believe” or “he has no confidence.” It is followed by the infinitive construct functioning as the direct object – he does not expect to return (to escape) from darkness.sn The meaning of this line is somewhat in question. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 111) thinks it could mean that he is afraid he will not wake up from the night, or he dreads misfortune, thinking it will be final for him.; #sn In the context of these arguments, “darkness” probably refers to calamity, and so the wicked can expect a calamity that is final.]

he is marked for the sword;

²³he wanders about – food for vultures;[#tn The MT has “he wanders about for food – where is it?” The LXX has “he has been appointed for food for vultures,” reading אַיָּה (’ayyah, “vulture”) for אַיֵּה (’ayyeh, “where is it?”). This would carry on the thought of the passage – he sees himself destined for the sword and food for vultures. Many commentators follow this reading while making a number of smaller changes in נֹדֵד (noded, “wandering”) such as נִתַּן (nittan, “is given”), נוֹעַד (no’ad, “is appointed”), נוֹדַע (noda’, “is known”), or something similar. The latter involves no major change in consonants. While the MT “wandering” may not be as elegant as some of the other suggestions, it is not impossible. But there is no reading of this verse that does not involve some change. The LXX has “and he has been appointed for food for vultures.”]

he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish terrify him;[#tn If “day and darkness” are added to this line, then this verse is made into a tri-colon – the main reason for transferring it away from the last verse. But the newly proposed reading follows the LXX structure precisely, as if that were the approved construction. The Hebrew of MT has “distress and anguish terrify him.”]

they prevail against him

like a king ready to launch an attack,

²⁵for he stretches out his hand against God,[#sn The symbol of the outstretched hand is the picture of attempting to strike someone, or shaking a fist at someone; it is a symbol of a challenge or threat (see Isa 5:25; 9:21; 10:4).]

and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

²⁶defiantly charging against him[#tn Heb “he runs against [or upon] him with the neck.” The RSV takes this to mean “with a stiff neck.” Several commentators, influenced by the LXX’s “insolently,” have attempted to harmonize with some idiom for neck (“outstretched neck,” for example). Others have made more extensive changes. Pope and Anderson follow Tur-Sinai in accepting “with full battle armor.” But the main idea seems to be that of a headlong assault on God.]

with a thick, strong shield!

²⁷Because he covered his face with fat,[#sn This verse tells us that he is not in any condition to fight, because he is bloated and fat from luxurious living.]

and made his hips bulge with fat,

²⁸he lived in ruined towns[#sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).]

and in houses where no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

²⁹He will not grow rich,

and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the land.

³⁰He will not escape the darkness;[#tn Some editions and commentators delete the first line of this verse, arguing that it is simply a paraphrase of v. 22a, and that it interrupts the comparison with a tree that falls (although that comparison only starts next).]

a flame will wither his shoots

and he will depart

by the breath of God’s mouth.

³¹Let him not trust in what is worthless,[#tn The word, although difficult in its form, is “vanity,” i.e., that which is worthless. E. Dhorme (Job, 224) thinks that the form שָׁוְא (shav’) conceals the word שִׁיאוֹ (shi’o, “his stature”). But Dhorme reworks most of the verse. He changes נִתְעָה (nit’ah, “deceived”) to נֵדַע (neda’, “we know”) to arrive at “we know that it is vanity.” The last two words of the verse are then moved to the next. The LXX has “let him not think that he shall endure, for his end shall be vanity.”]

deceiving himself;

for worthlessness will be his reward.

³²Before his time he will be paid in full,[#tn Heb “before his day.”; #tn Those who put the last colon of v. 31 with v. 32 also have to change the verb תִּמָּלֵא (timmale’, “will be fulfilled”). E. Dhorme (Job, 225) says, “a mere glance at the use of yimmal…abundantly proves that the original text had timmal (G, Syr., Vulg), which became timmale’ through the accidental transposition of the ‘alep of bÿsi’o…in verse 31….” This, of course, is possible, if all the other changes up to now are granted. But the meaning of a word elsewhere in no way assures it should be the word here. The LXX has “his harvest shall perish before the time,” which could translate any number of words that might have been in the underlying Hebrew text. A commercial metaphor is not out of place here, since parallelism does not demand that the same metaphor appear in both lines.]

and his branches will not flourish.

³³Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,[#tn The verb means “to treat violently” or “to wrong.” It indicates that the vine did not nourish the grapes well enough for them to grow, and so they dry up and drop off.]

and like an olive tree

he will shed his blossoms.

³⁴For the company of the godless is barren,[#tn The LXX renders this line: “for death is the witness of an ungodly man. “Death” represents “barren/sterile,” and “witness” represents “assembly.”]

and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

³⁵They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;[#tn Infinitives absolute are used in this verse in the place of finite verbs. They lend a greater vividness to the description, stressing the basic meaning of the words.]

their belly prepares deception.”