NET Bible

Eliphaz’s Second Speech1

^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.”