International Standard Version

English Standard Version

1Then Eliphaz from Teman responded:

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2"Should a wise person respond with knowledge based on wind? Should he fill his stomach with a wind storm from the east?

2“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

3Should he engage in unprofitable argument, or give a speech that benefits no one?

3Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good?

4Yet you dispense with fear of God and hinder meditations before God.

4But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.

5Because your sin dictates your speech, you have chosen the language of the crafty.

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

6Your own mouth is condemning you, not I; your own lips will testify against you."

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

7"Were you the first person to be born? Were you brought forth before the hills were made?

7“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8Have you listened in on God's secret council? Have you limited wisdom only to yourself?

8Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9What do you know that we don't know, or that you understand and that isn't clear to us?

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

10"We have both the gray-haired and the aged with us, and they are far older than your father.

10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father.

11Are God's encouragements inconsequential to you, even a word that has been spoken gently to you?

11Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?

12Why have your emotions carried you away? And why do your eyes flash

12Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,

13that you turn your anger against God and speak words like this?

13that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?

14"What is mankind, that he can be blameless? Or does being born of a woman mean he'll be in the right?

14What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?

15Look, if God doesn't trust his holy ones, if even the heavens aren't pure as he looks at them,

15Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

16then how much less is one who is abhorred and corrupted, such as a man who drinks injustice like water?"

16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

17"I'll tell you what, listen to me! Let me relate what I've seen,

17“I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare

18which is what wise men have explained, who didn't withhold anything from their ancestors.

18(what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers,

19To them alone was the land given, when no invader passed through their midst.

19to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them).

20"The wicked person writhes in pain throughout his life, a number of years has been reserved for the ruthless.

20The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

21Terrifying sounds ring in his ears; when times are prosperous, the Destroyer will attack him.

21Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

22He does not believe he will escape darkness; he is destined for the sword.

22He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.

23He wanders around for food—where is it? He knows that a time of darkness is near.

23He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

24Distress and pressure terrify him; they overwhelm him, like a king poised for attack.

24distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25"For he has raised his fist against God, defying the Almighty.

25Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty,

26He defiantly ran against him carrying his thick, reinforced shield.

26running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield;

27Though he covered his face with fat, and is grossly overweight at the waist,

27because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waist

28He will live in devastated towns, in abandoned houses that are about to become heaps of rubble.

28and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

29"He won't become rich and his wealth won't last; he won't expand his holdings to cover the land.

29he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth;

30He won't escape darkness; a flame will wither his shoots; and he'll depart by the breath of God's mouth.

30he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.

31Let him not trust in a worthless speech. He leads only himself astray, for emptiness will be his reward.

31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment.

32This will be accomplished before his time; his branches won't grow luxuriant.

32It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.

33"He is like a vine that drops its unripe grapes; like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.

33He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

34For the company of the godless is desolation, and fire consumes the tents of those who bribe.

34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

35For they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity; their womb is pregnant with deception."

35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit.”

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.