Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 15 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


15:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
15:2  "A wise man wouldn't answer with such empty talk! You are nothing but a windbag.
15:3  The wise don't engage in empty chatter. What good are such words?
15:4  Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him?
15:5  Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.
15:6  Your own mouth condemns you, not I. Your own lips testify against you.
15:7  "Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?
15:8  Were you listening at God's secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
15:9  What do you know that we don't? What do you understand that we do not?
15:10  On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father!
15:11  "Is God's comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?
15:12  What has taken away your reason? What has weakened your vision,
15:13  that you turn against God and say all these evil things?
15:14  Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just?
15:15  Look, God does not even trust the angels. Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight.
15:16  How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness!
15:17  "If you will listen, I will show you. I will answer you from my own experience.
15:18  And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers--
15:19  from those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.
15:20  "The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives. Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
15:21  The sound of terror rings in their ears, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
15:22  They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.
15:23  They wander around, saying, 'Where can I find bread?' They know their day of destruction is near.
15:24  That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for battle.
15:25  For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty.
15:26  Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.
15:27  "These wicked people are heavy and prosperous; their waists bulge with fat.
15:28  But their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down.
15:29  Their riches will not last, and their wealth will not endure. Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.
15:30  "They will not escape the darkness. The burning sun will wither their shoots, and the breath of God will destroy them.
15:31  Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.
15:32  Like trees, they will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green.
15:33  They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.
15:34  For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn.
15:35  They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb produces deceit."