1. |
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, |
2. |
Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? |
3. |
Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? |
4. |
Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God. |
5. |
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. |
6. |
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee. |
7. |
Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills? |
8. |
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself? |
9. |
What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us? |
10. |
With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father. |
11. |
Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee? |
12. |
Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash, |
13. |
That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth? |
14. |
What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
15. |
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight: |
16. |
How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water! |
17. |
I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare: |
18. |
(Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it; |
19. |
Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them): |
20. |
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. |
21. |
A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. |
22. |
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword. |
23. |
He wandereth abroad for bread, `saying', Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. |
24. |
Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. |
25. |
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty; |
26. |
He runneth upon him with a `stiff' neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers; |
27. |
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins; |
28. |
And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps; |
29. |
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. |
30. |
He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of `God's' mouth shall he go away. |
31. |
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense. |
32. |
It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green. |
33. |
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree. |
34. |
For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery. |
35. |
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit. |