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15:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
15:2  Does a wise man answer with windy opinions, or puff himself up with the east wind?
15:3  Does he argue in speech that does not avail, and in words that are to no profit?
15:4  You in fact do away with piety, you lessen devotion toward God,
15:5  Because your wickedness instructs your mouth, and you choose to speak like the crafty.
15:6  Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips refute you.
15:7  Were you the first to be born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8  Do you listen in on God’s council and restrict wisdom to yourself?
15:9  What do you know that we do not know, or understand that we do not?
15:10  There are gray-haired old men among us, more advanced in years than your father.
15:11  Are the consolations of God not enough for you, and speech that deals gently with you?
15:12  Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,
15:13  So that you turn your anger against God and let such words escape your mouth!
15:14  How can any mortal be blameless, anyone born of woman be righteous?
15:15  If in his holy ones God places no confidence, and if the heavens are not without blame in his sight,
15:16  How much less so is the abominable and corrupt: people who drink in iniquity like water!
15:17  I will show you, if you listen to me; what I have seen I will tell—
15:18  What the wise relate and have not contradicted since the days of their ancestors,
15:19  To whom alone the land was given, when no foreigner moved among them:
15:20  The wicked is in torment all his days, and limited years are in store for the ruthless;
15:21  The sound of terrors is in his ears; when all is prosperous, a spoiler comes upon him.
15:22  He despairs of escaping the darkness, and looks ever for the sword;
15:23  A wanderer, food for vultures, he knows destruction is imminent.
15:24  A day of darkness fills him with dread; distress and anguish overpower him, like a king expecting an attack.
15:25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God and arrogantly challenged the Almighty,
15:26  Rushing defiantly against him, with the stout bosses of his shields.
15:27  Although he has covered his face with his crassness, padded his loins with blubber,
15:28  He shall dwell in ruined cities, in houses that are deserted, crumbling into rubble.
15:29  He shall not be rich, his possessions shall not endure; his property shall not spread over the land.
15:30  A flame shall sear his early growth, and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.
15:31  Let him not trust in his height, misled, even though his height be like the palm tree.
15:32  He shall wither before his time, his branches no longer green.
15:33  He shall be like a vine that sheds its grapes unripened, like an olive tree casting off its blossom.
15:34  For the breed of the impious shall be sterile, and fire shall consume the tents of extortioners.
15:35  They conceive malice, bring forth deceit, give birth to fraud.