Job 15:1-21 ▼

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job] and said,

2 “Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard] And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?

3 “Should he rebuke and argue with useless talk? Or with words in which there is no benefit?

4 “Indeed, you are doing away with fear, And you are diminishing meditation before God.

5 “For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose [to speak] the language of the crafty and cunning.

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

7 “Were you the first man to be born [the original wise man], Or were you created before the hills?

8 “Do you hear the secret counsel of God, And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?

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

10 “Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged, Older than your father.

11 “Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you, [Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

12 “Why does your heart carry you away [allowing you to be controlled by emotion]? And why do your eyes flash [in anger or contempt],

13 That you should turn your spirit against God And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

14 “What is man, that he should be pure and clean, Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous and just?

15 “Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels); Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—

16 How much less [pure and clean is] the one who is repulsive and corrupt, Man, who drinks unrighteousness and injustice like water!

17 “I will tell you, listen to me; And what I have seen I will also declare;

18 What wise men have [freely] told, And have not hidden [anything passed on to them] from their fathers,

19 To whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them [corrupting the truth].

20 “The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And numbered are the years stored up for him, the ruthless one.

21 “A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears; While at peace and in a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].