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Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite ^(F1)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 are not profitable?

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

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

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

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

⁸ "Do you hear the ^(C1)secret counsel 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 small for you,
Even the ^(C2)word spoken gently with you?

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

¹³ That you should turn your spirit against God
And allow such words to go out of your mouth?

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

¹⁵ "Behold, He puts 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,
Man, who ^(C2)drinks iniquity 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 men have told,
And have not concealed from ^(C1)their fathers,

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

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

²¹ "^(F1)Sounds of ^(C1)terror are in his ears;
^(C2)While 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 stretched out his hand against God
And conducts himself ^(C1)arrogantly against ^(F1)the Almighty.

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

²⁷ "For he has ^(C1)covered his face with his fat
And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

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 grain will not bend down to the ground.

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

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

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)mischief and bring forth iniquity,
And their ^(F2)mind prepares deception."