Read the Bible

¹ Then Elifaz the Temanite answered, ² "Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? ³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches with which he can do no good? ⁴ Yes, you do away with fear, And hinder devotion before God. ⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. ⁷ "Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? ⁸ Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹ What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand, which is not in us? ¹⁰ With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than your father. ¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word that is gentle toward you? ¹² Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash, ¹³ That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth? ¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean? He who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones; Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight: ¹⁶ How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, A man who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷ "I will show you, listen to me; That which I have seen I will declare: ¹⁸ (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hidden it; ¹⁹ To whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them): ²⁰ The wicked man travails with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. ²¹ A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him. ²² He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness, He is waited for by the sword. ²³ He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. ²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God, And behaves himself proudly against Shaddai; ²⁶ He runs at him with a stiff neck, With the thick shields of his bucklers; ²⁷ Because he has covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat on his loins. ²⁸ He has lived in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps. ²⁹ He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the eretz. ³⁰ He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away. ³¹ Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness shall be his reward. ³² It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green. ³³ He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive tree. ³⁴ For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery. ³⁵ They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit."