Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God
Then aEliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Should aa wise man answer with bwindy knowledge,
and fill his cbelly with dthe east wind?
3 Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which he can do no good?
4 But you are doing away with the fear of God
and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your aown mouth condemns you, and not I;
byour own lips testify against you.
7 a“Are you the first man who was born?
Or bwere you brought forth cbefore the hills?
8 Have you listened in athe council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 aWhat do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 aBoth the gray‑haired and the aged are among us,
older than your father.
11 Are the comforts of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 that you turn your aspirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
14 aWhat is man, bthat he can be pure?
Or he who is cborn of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15 Behold, God aputs no trust in his bholy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16 ahow much less one who is abominable and bcorrupt,
a man who cdrinks injustice like water!
17 “I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
18 (what wise men have told,
without hiding it afrom their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no astranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the ayears that are laid up for bthe ruthless.
21 aDreadful sounds are in his ears;
in bprosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
23 He awanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify him;
they aprevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
26 arunning bstubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because he has acovered his face with his fat
and gathered fat upon his waist
28 and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
29 he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
30 he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by athe breath of his mouth he will depart.
31 Let him not atrust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
32 It will be paid in full abefore his time,
and his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
34 For athe company of the godless is barren,
and bfire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They aconceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their bwomb prepares deceit.”