Job, 15

1. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

1. Eliphaz the Temanite spoke:

2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

2. Should a wise man answer with airy notions, puff himself up with senseless opinions?

3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

3. Should he argue in empty talk, in words that are meaningless?

4. Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

4. You are undermining piety and meditation in God's presence.

5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

5. Your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you talk like the crafty.

6. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

6. Your own mouth condemns you, your own lips, not mine.

7. [Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

7. Are you mankind's firstborn? Were you brought forth before the hills?

8. Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

8. Are you privy to God's counsels? Do you alone possess wisdom?

9. What knowest thou, that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us?

9. What knowledge have you that we do not have? What do you understand that is obscure to us?

10. With us [are] both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

10. The gray-haired and the aged are among us, men older than your father.

11. [Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

11. Are God's consolations too small for you, and the words spoken gently to you?

12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

12. Why does your heart carry you away, why do your eyes flash

13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth?

13. when you turn your wrath against God and utter such words as these?

14. What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

14. What is man to claim innocence, the child of woman to be cleared of guilt?

15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

15. If God puts no trust in his holy ones, and (the) heavens are not clean in his eyes,

16. How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

16. how much less man who is vile and corrupt, who drinks evil as if it were water!

17. I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare;

17. Listen and I will explain; I will tell you of my experience

18. Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]:

18. and of the sages' teachings passed on to them by their fathers,

19. Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

19. to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner moved among them.

20. The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

20. The wicked are in torment all their days. During the years allotted to the tyrant

21. A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

21. his ears are filled with terrifying sounds, his peace shattered by the attack of marauders.

22. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

22. He despairs of escaping the darkness and sees himself given to the sword,

23. He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

23. then left as a prey for vultures, he knows his destruction is at hand.

24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

24. The hour of darkness fills him with dread, as distress and anguish close in on him.

25. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

25. But look: he challenged God, he raised his hand against the Almighty,

26. He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

26. charging stubbornly against him behind a thick, sturdy shield.

27. Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks.

27. His face had grown full and fat, his thighs bulged with flesh.

28. And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

28. He would dwell in ruined cities, in deserted and crumbling houses.

29. He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

29. He will not prosper or take root; he will not escape from darkness;

30. He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

30. a flame will wither his shoots; the wind will carry off his blossom.

31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

31. Let him not trust in greatness for he will get nothing in return.

32. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

32. He will be paid in full before his time, and his branches will never again be green.

33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

33. Like a vine he will be stripped of unripe grapes; like the olive, he will shed his blossoms.

34. For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

34. For the breed of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of extortioners.

35. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

35. Who conceives mischief will bring forth evil, deceit will spring from his own womb.