LEB - Job - 15

15:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

15:2  “Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and should he fill his stomach with the east wind?

15:3  Should he argue in talk that is not profitable or in words with which he cannot do good?

15:4  “⌞What is worse⌟, you yourself are doing away with fear, and you are lessening meditation ⌞before⌟ God.

15:5  For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

15:6  Your mouth condemns you, and not I; and your lips testify against you.

15:7  “Were you born the firstborn of the human race? And were you brought forth ⌞before⌟ the hills?

15:8  Have you listened in God’s confidential discussion? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

15:9  What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

15:10  Both the gray-haired and the old are among us— ⌞those older than your father⌟.

15:11  “Are the consolations of God too small for you, a word spoken gently with you?

15:12  Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash,

15:13  that you turn your spirit against God, and you let such words go out of your mouth?

15:14  “What is a human being, that he can be clean, or that one born of a woman can be righteous?

15:15  Look, he does not trust his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes.

15:16  ⌞How much less⌟ he who is abominable and corrupt, a man drinking wickedness like water.

15:17  “I will show you, listen to me; and what I have seen, I will tell—

15:18  what wise men have told, and they have not hidden that which is from their ancestors,

15:19  ⌞to whom alone⌟ the land was given, and no stranger passed through their midst.

15:20  “All of the wicked one’s days he is writhing, even through the number of years that are laid up for the tyrant.

15:21  Sounds of terror are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come against him.

15:22  ⌞He cannot trust that he will return⌟ from darkness, and he himself is destined for the sword.

15:23  “He is wandering for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready ⌞at hand⌟.

15:24  Anguish and distress terrify him; they overpower him like a king ready for the battle.

15:25  Because he stretched out his hand against God, and he was arrogant to Shaddai;

15:26  he ⌞stubbornly⌟ runs against him ⌞with his thick-bossed shield⌟.

15:27  “Because he has covered his face with his fat and has gathered fat upon his loins,

15:28  ⌞he will dwell⌟ in desolate cities, in houses that they should not inhabit, which are destined for rubble.

15:29  He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure, and their possessions will not stretch across the earth.

15:30  “He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his new shoot, and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.

15:31  Let him not trust in emptiness—he will be deceiving himself— for worthlessness will be his recompense.

15:32  It will be paid in full ⌞before his time⌟, and his branch will not flourish.

15:33  “He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine, and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree;

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 mischief, and their womb prepares deceit.”