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