JobChapter 15
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1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2"Would a wise man answer with empty advice?
Would he fill his stomach with the hot east wind? 3Should he argue with useless words?
Should he give speeches that do no good? 4But you even weaken the fear of God.
You get in the way of quiet thinking before him. 5Your sin teaches your mouth what to say.
You choose to talk like a tricky person. 6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine.
Your own lips speak against you. 7Were you the first man ever born?
Were you made before the hills? 8Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you keep wisdom all to yourself? 9What do you know that we don't know?
What do you understand that isn't clear to us? 10Gray-haired and old men are on our side.
They are much older than your father. 11Isn't God's comfort enough for you?
Isn't it enough when words are spoken gently to you? 12Why has your heart carried you away?
Why do your eyes flash? 13so that you turn your spirit against God
and pour such words out of your mouth? 14What is man, that he could be pure?
What is someone born from a woman, that he could be righteous? 15If God doesn't trust even his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16how much less a man, who is disgusting and rotten,
who drinks up evil like water! 17Listen to me, and I will tell you.
I will describe what I have seen. 18It is what wise men have told.
Their fathers did not hide it from them. 19The land was given to their fathers alone.
No foreigner passed among them then. 20A wicked man twists in pain all his life.
Only a few years are stored up for the cruel man. 21Terrible sounds fill his ears.
When things are going well, the destroyer attacks him. 22He has no hope of coming back from the darkness.
He is marked for the sword. 23He wanders around as food for vultures.
He knows the day of darkness is near. 24Trouble and pain terrify him.
They overpower him like a king ready to attack. 25This is because he raised his fist against God.
He proudly set himself against the Almighty. 26He rushed straight at God
with a thick shield covered with metal knobs. 27His face may be covered with fat.
His waist may bulge with flesh. 28But he will live in ruined towns.
He will live in empty houses that will soon be piles of rubble. 29He won't be rich anymore.
His wealth won't last.
His belongings won't spread over the land. 30He won't escape from the darkness.
A flame will dry up his young branches.
The breath of God's mouth will carry him away. 31Let him not fool himself by trusting in what is empty,
because emptiness will be his reward. 32It will be paid in full before his time.
His branch will not grow green. 33He will be like a vine that loses its unripe grapes.
He will be like an olive tree that drops its flowers. 34The group of godless people will have no children.
Fire will burn up the tents of those who take bribes. 35They plan trouble and give birth to evil.
Their insides are full of lies."