Job   

Chapter

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