Read the Bible

Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

² "Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
^(C1)And fill ^(F1)himself with the east wind?

³ "Should he argue with useless talk,
Or with words which do not benefit?

⁴ "Indeed, you do away with ^(F1)reverence,
And hinder meditation before God.

⁵ "For ^(C1)your wrongdoing teaches your mouth,
And you choose the language of ^(C2)the cunning.

⁶ "Your ^(C1)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
And your own lips testify against you.

⁷ "Were you the first person to be born,
Or ^(C1)were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸ "Do you hear the ^(C1)secret discussion of God,
And limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹ "^(C1)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that ^(F1)we do not?

¹⁰ "Both the ^(C1)gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.

¹¹ "Are ^(C1)the consolations of God too little for you,
Or the ^(C2)word spoken gently to you?

¹² "Why does your ^(C1)heart take you away?
And why do your eyes wink,

¹³ That you can turn your spirit against God
And produce such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ "What is man, that ^(C1)he would be pure,
Or ^(C2)he who is born of a woman, that he would be righteous?

¹⁵ "Behold, He has no trust in His ^(C1)holy ones,
And the ^(C2)heavens are not pure in His sight;

¹⁶ How much less one who is ^(C1)detestable and corrupt:
A person who ^(C2)drinks ^(F1)malice like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life

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

¹⁸ What wise people have told,
And have not concealed from ^(C1)their fathers,

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

²⁰ "The wicked person writhes ^(C1)in pain all his days,
And the ^(F1)years ^(C2)reserved for the ruthless are numbered.

²¹ "^(F1)Sounds of ^(C1)terror are in his ears;
^(C2)While he is at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

²² "He does not believe that he will ^(C1)return from darkness,
And he is destined for ^(C2)the sword.

²³ "He wanders about for food, saying, 'Where is it?'
He knows that a day of ^(C1)darkness is ^(F1)at hand.

²⁴ "Distress and anguish terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

²⁵ Because he has reached out with his hand against God,
And is ^(C1)arrogant toward ^(F1)the Almighty.

²⁶ "He rushes ^(F1)headlong at Him
With his ^(F2)massive shield.

²⁷ "For he has ^(C1)covered his face with his fat,
And ^(F1)put fat on his waist.

²⁸ "He has ^(C1)lived in desolate cities,
In houses no one would inhabit,
Which are destined to become ^(F1)ruins.

²⁹ "He ^(C1)will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his property will not stretch out on the earth.

³⁰ "He will ^(C1)not ^(F1)escape from darkness;
The ^(C2)flame will dry up his shoot,
And he will go away by ^(C3)the breath of His mouth.

³¹ "Let him not ^(C1)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
For his ^(F1)reward will be emptiness.

³² "It will be accomplished ^(C1)before his time,
And his palm ^(C2)branch will not be green.

³³ "He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,
And will ^(C1)cast off his flower like the olive tree.

³⁴ "For the company of ^(C1)the godless is barren,
And fire consumes ^(C2)the tents of ^(F1)the corrupt.

³⁵ "They ^(C1)conceive ^(F1)harm and give birth to wrongdoing,
And their ^(F2)mind prepares deception."