Job - Chapter 15 | New International Version

  • 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."
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