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15:1  Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke:
15:2  “Should a wise man answer with hot-air arguments? Should he fill up his belly with the hot east wind?
15:3  Should he reason with useless talk or make speeches that do him no good?
15:4  “Why, you are abolishing fear of God and hindering prayer to him!
15:5  Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak, and deceit is your language of choice.
15:6  Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you.
15:7  “Were you the firstborn of the human race, brought forth before the hills?
15:8  Do you listen in on God’s secrets? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
15:9  What do you know that we don’t know? What discernment do you have that we don’t?
15:10  With us are gray-haired men, old men, men much older than your father.
15:11  Are the comfortings of God not enough for you, or a word that deals gently with you?
15:12  Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash angrily,
15:13  so that you turn your spirit against God and let such words escape your mouth?
15:14  “What is a human being, that he could be innocent, someone born from a woman, that he could be righteous?
15:15  God doesn’t trust even his holy ones; no, even the heavens are not innocent in his view.
15:16  How much less one loathesome and corrupt, a human being, who drinks iniquity like water.
15:17  “I will tell you — hear me out! I will recount what I have seen;
15:18  wise men have told it, and it wasn’t hidden from their fathers either,
15:19  to whom alone the land was given — no foreigner passed among them.
15:20  “The wicked is in torment all his life, for all the years allotted to the tyrant.
15:21  Terrifying sounds are in his ears; in prosperity, robbers swoop down on him.
15:22  He despairs of returning from darkness — he is destined to meet the sword.
15:23  He wanders and looks for food, which isn’t there. He knows the day of darkness is ready, at hand.
15:24  Distress and anguish overwhelm him, assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.
15:25  “He raises his hand against God and boldly defies Shaddai,
15:26  running against him with head held high and thickly ornamented shield.
15:27  “He lets his face grow gross and fat, and the rest of him bulges with blubber;
15:28  he lives in abandoned cities, in houses no one would inhabit, houses about to become ruins;
15:29  therefore he will not remain rich, his wealth will not endure, his produce will not bend [the grain stalks] to the earth.
15:30  “He will not escape from darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. By a breath from the mouth of [God], he will go away.
15:31  Let him not rely on futile methods, thereby deceiving himself; for what he will receive in exchange will be only futility.
15:32  This will be accomplished in advance of its day. His palm frond will not be fresh and green;
15:33  he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that drops its flowers.
15:34  “For the community of the ungodly is sterile; fire consumes the tents of bribery.
15:35  They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deceit.”