Job 15

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2Should a wise man answer with knowledge that is mere wind and fill his belly with the east wind?

3Should he argue with useless words, or with speech that does no good?

4Indeed, you undermine reverence and hinder meditation before God.

5For your wrongdoing teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.

7Were you born the first man, and were you brought forth before the hills?

8Have you listened in the council of God, and restricted wisdom to yourself?

9What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not have?

10Among us are both gray-haired and aged men, older than your father.

11Are God's consolations too small for you, and a word spoken gently to you?

12Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes wink?

13that you turn your spirit against God and bring words out of your mouth?

14What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15Look, he puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his eyes.

16how much less a man who is detestable and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water!

17I will tell you; listen to me. What I have seen, I will recount—

18what wise men declare, and have not hidden from their fathers—

19To them alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.

20All his days the wicked man writhes, and the number of years is hidden away for the ruthless.

21Terrifying sounds are in his ears; when he is at peace, a destroyer comes upon him.

22He does not expect to return from darkness; he is marked out for the sword.

23He wanders about in search of bread: “Where is it?” He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand for him.

24Distress and anguish terrify him; they overpower him like a king ready for battle.

25because he has stretched out his hand against God, and has shown himself mighty against the Almighty.

26He rushes at him with neck outstretched, with the thick bosses of his shields.

27because he has covered his face with fat and made folds of fat over his flanks.

28He has lived in ruined cities, in houses where no one dwells, which were destined to become heaps.

29He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure; his possessions will not spread over the land.

30He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his shoot, and he will be swept away by the breath of his mouth.

31Let him not trust in emptiness, going astray, for emptiness will be what he gets in return.

32It will be completed before his time, and his branch will not be green.

33Like a vine, he will strip off his unripe grapes, and like an olive tree, he will cast off his blossom.

34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes tents gained by bribery.

35They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness; their womb prepares deceit.