| | 1 | Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | |
| | 2 | "Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind? | |
| | 3 | Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? | |
| | 4 | But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. | |
| | 5 | Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. | |
| | 6 | Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. | |
| | 7 | "Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? | |
| | 8 | Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? | |
| | 9 | What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? | |
| | 10 | The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. | |
| | 11 | Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? | |
| | 12 | Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, | |
| | 13 | so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? | |
| | 14 | "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous? | |
| | 15 | If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, | |
| | 16 | how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water! | |
| | 17 | "Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, | |
| | 18 | what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers | |
| | 19 | (to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them): | |
| | 20 | All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. | |
| | 21 | Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. | |
| | 22 | He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword. | |
| | 23 | He wanders about--food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. | |
| | 24 | Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, | |
| | 25 | because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, | |
| | 26 | defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. | |
| | 27 | "Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, | |
| | 28 | he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. | |
| | 29 | He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. | |
| | 30 | He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. | |
| | 31 | Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. | |
| | 32 | Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. | |
| | 33 | He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. | |
| | 34 | For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. | |
| | 35 | They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit." | |
