Job 15, side by side

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

¹Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

²“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

²Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

³Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose?

³Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

⁴But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.

⁴Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

⁵For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁵For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

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

⁶Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

⁷Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁷Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

⁸Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

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

⁹What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

¹⁰Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side— men much older than your father.

¹⁰With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?

¹¹Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

¹²Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

¹²Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

¹³as you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?

¹³That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

¹⁴What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁴What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,

¹⁵Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

¹⁶how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

¹⁶How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

¹⁷Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

¹⁷I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

¹⁸what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

¹⁸Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

¹⁹Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

²⁰A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

²⁰The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

²¹A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

²²He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.

²²He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

²³He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²³He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.

²⁴Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

²⁵For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,

²⁵For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

²⁶rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.

²⁶He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

²⁷Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

²⁷Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

²⁸he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.

²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

²⁹He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.

²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

³⁰He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

³¹Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.

³¹Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

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

³²It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

³³He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

³³He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

³⁴For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

³⁴For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.