Job 15 — Legacy Standard Bible

Eliphaz Says Job’s Lips Answer Against Him

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge^aAnd fill his belly with the east wind?³“Should he argue with a word that cannot be used,Or with speech which is not profitable?⁴“Indeed, you annul reverent fearAnd cut off musing before God.⁵“For ^ayour iniquity teaches your mouth,And you choose the tongue of ^bthe crafty.⁶“Your ^aown mouth condemns you, and not I;And your own lips answer against you.⁷“Were you the first man to be born,Or ^awere you brought forth before the hills?⁸“Do you hear the ^asecret counsel of God,And cut down wisdom only unto yourself?⁹“^aWhat do you know that we do not know?What do you understand that is not with us?¹⁰“Both the ^agray-haired and the aged are among us,Older than your father.¹¹“Are ^athe consolations of God too small for you,Even the ^bword spoken gently with you?¹²“Why does your ^aheart take you away?And why do your eyes flash,¹³That you should turn your spirit against GodAnd allow such words to go out of your mouth?¹⁴“What is man, that ^ahe should be pure,Or ^bhe who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?¹⁵“Behold, He puts no faith in His ^aholy ones,And the ^bheavens are not pure in His sight;¹⁶How much less one who is ^aabominable and corrupt,Man, who ^bdrinks ¹unrighteousness like water!¹⁷“I will tell you, listen to me;And what I have beheld I will also recount;¹⁸What wise men have told,And have not concealed from ^atheir fathers,¹⁹To whom alone the land was given,And no stranger passed among them.²⁰“The wicked man writhes ^ain pain all his days,And ¹numbered are the years ^bstored up for the ruthless.²¹“¹Sounds of ^adread are in his ears;^bWhile at peace the destroyer comes upon him.²²“He does not believe that he will ^areturn from darkness,And he is destined for ^bthe sword.²³“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’He knows that a day of ^adarkness is ready at his hand.²⁴“Distress and anguish terrify him;They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against GodAnd ^amagnifies himself against ¹the Almighty.²⁶“He rushes ¹headlong at HimWith ²his massive shield.²⁷“For he has ^acovered his face with his fatAnd made his thighs heavy with flesh.²⁸“He has ^adwelt in desolate cities,In houses no one would inhabit,Which are destined to become ¹ruins.²⁹“He ^awill not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;And his grain will not stretch out over the land.³⁰“He will ^anot be able to ¹depart from darkness;The ^bflame will wither his shoots,And by ^cthe breath of His mouth he will depart.³¹“Let him not ^abelieve in emptiness, deceiving himself;For emptiness will be his ¹reward,³²When ^ahis days are not yet fulfilled,And his palm ^bbranch is not green.³³“He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,And will ^acast off his flower like the olive tree.³⁴“For the company of ^athe godless is barren,And fire consumes ^bthe tents of ¹the corrupt.³⁵“They ^aconceive ¹trouble and give birth to wickedness,And their ²belly prepares deception.”