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15:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
15:2  “A wise person would not answer with empty words or fill his stomach with the hot east wind.
15:3  He would not argue with useless words or make speeches that have no value.
15:4  But you even destroy respect for God and limit the worship of him.
15:5  Your sin teaches your mouth what to say; you use words to trick others.
15:6  It is your own mouth, not mine, that shows you are wicked; your own lips testify against you.
15:7  “You are not the first man ever born; you are not older than the hills.
15:8  You did not listen in on God’s secret council. But you limit wisdom to yourself.
15:9  You don’t know any more than we know. You don’t understand any more than we understand.
15:10  Old people with gray hair are on our side; they are even older than your father.
15:11  Is the comfort God gives you not enough for you, even when words are spoken gently to you?
15:12  Has your heart carried you away from God? Why do your eyes flash with anger?
15:13  Why do you speak out your anger against God? Why do these words pour out of your mouth?
15:14  “How can anyone be pure? How can someone born to a woman be good?
15:15  God places no trust in his holy ones, and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
15:16  How much less pure is one who is terrible and rotten and drinks up evil as if it were water!
15:17  “Listen to me, and I will tell you about it; I will tell you what I have seen.
15:18  These are things wise men have told; their ancestors told them, and they have hidden nothing.
15:19  (The land was given to their fathers only, and no foreigner lived among them.)
15:20  The wicked suffer pain all their lives; the cruel suffer during all the years saved up for them.
15:21  Terrible sounds fill their ears, and when things seem to be going well, robbers attack them.
15:22  Evil people give up trying to escape from the darkness; it has been decided that they will die by the sword.
15:23  They wander around and will become food for vultures. They know darkness will soon come.
15:24  Worry and suffering terrify them; they overwhelm them, like a king ready to attack,
15:25  because they shake their fists at God and try to get their own way against the Almighty.
15:26  They stubbornly charge at God with thick, strong shields.
15:27  “Although the faces of the wicked are thick with fat, and their bellies are fat with flesh,
15:28  they will live in towns that are ruined, in houses where no one lives, which are crumbling into ruins.
15:29  The wicked will no longer get rich, and the riches they have will not last; the things they own will no longer spread over the land.
15:30  They will not escape the darkness. A flame will dry up their branches; God’s breath will carry the wicked away.
15:31  The wicked should not fool themselves by trusting what is useless. If they do, they will get nothing in return.
15:32  Their branches will dry up before they finish growing and will never turn green.
15:33  They will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
15:34  People without God can produce nothing. Fire will destroy the tents of those who take money to do evil,
15:35  who plan trouble and give birth to evil, whose hearts plan ways to trick others.”