Eliphaz’s Second Speech
15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
15:2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,
or fill his belly with the east wind?
15:3 Does he argue with useless talk,
with words that have no value in them?
15:4 But you even break off piety,
and hinder meditation before God.
15:5 Your sin inspires your mouth;
you choose the language of the crafty.
15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.
15:7 “Were you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8 Do you listen in on God’s secret council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
15:9 What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand that we don’t understand?
15:10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men far older than your father.
15:11 Are God’s consolations too trivial for you;
or a word spoken in gentleness to you?
15:12 Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
15:13 when you turn your rage against God
and allow such words to escape from your mouth?
15:14 What is man that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,
who drinks in evil like water!
15:17 “I will explain to you;
listen to me,
and what I have seen, I will declare,
15:18 what wise men declare,
hiding nothing,
from the tradition of their ancestors,
15:19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
15:20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
throughout the number of the years
that are stored up for the tyrant.
15:21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
in a time of peace marauders attack him.
15:22 He does not expect to escape from darkness;
he is marked for the sword;
15:23 he wanders about – food for vultures;
he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.
15:24 Distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him
like a king ready to launch an attack,
15:25 for he stretches out his hand against God,
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
15:26 defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield!
15:27 Because he covered his face with fat,
and made his hips bulge with fat,
15:28 he lived in ruined towns
and in houses where no one lives,
where they are ready to crumble into heaps.
15:29 He will not grow rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
15:30 He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots
and he will depart
by the breath of God’s mouth.
15:31 Let him not trust in what is worthless,
deceiving himself;
for worthlessness will be his reward.
15:32 Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
15:33 Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,
and like an olive tree
he will shed his blossoms.
15:34 For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
15:35 They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;
their belly prepares deception.”