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15:1  Then Eliphaz from Teman answered Job:
15:2  “If you were really wise, you would not answer with your worthless personal opinions! A wise man would not be so full of hot air.
15:3  Do you think a wise man would use empty words and meaningless speeches to win his arguments?
15:4  If you had your way, no one would respect God and pray to him.
15:5  What you say clearly shows your sin. Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words.
15:6  I don’t need to prove to you that you are wrong. The words from your own mouth show that you are wrong. Your own lips speak against you.
15:7  “Do you think you were the first person ever to be born? Were you born before the hills?
15:8  Did you listen to God’s secret plans? Do you think you are the only wise person?
15:9  We know as much as you do! We understand as well as you.
15:10  The old, gray-haired men agree with us. People older than your father are on our side.
15:11  God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you. We have spoken his message to you in a gentle way.
15:12  Why will you not understand? Why can you not see the truth?
15:13  You are expressing your anger against God when you say these things.
15:14  “People cannot really be pure. They cannot be more right than God!
15:15  God does not even trust his angels. He does not even think the sky is pure.
15:16  People are even worse. They are disgusting and dirty. They drink up evil like water.
15:17  “Listen to me, and I will explain it to you. Let me tell you what I have seen.
15:18  I will tell you what wise men would say, things they heard from their fathers and then freely passed on. They didn’t hide any secrets from me.
15:19  These are important people in our country! Everyone knows who they are.
15:20  And they said that an evil man suffers all his life. A cruel man suffers all his numbered years.
15:21  Every noise scares him. His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe.
15:22  An evil man has no hope of escaping the darkness. There is a sword somewhere waiting to kill him.
15:23  He wanders from place to place, looking for food. But he knows a dark day is coming, which he brought on himself.
15:24  He lives in fear, with worry and suffering threatening him like a king ready to attack.
15:25  That is because that evil man shook his fist at God, refusing to obey. He dared to attack God All-Powerful,
15:26  like a soldier with a thick, strong shield who runs at his enemy to strike him in the neck.
15:27  He might be rich and fat,
15:28  but his town will be ruined; his home will be destroyed; his house will be empty.
15:29  He will not be rich for long. His wealth will not last. His crops will not grow large.
15:30  He will not escape the darkness. He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease and are blown away by the wind.
15:31  That evil man should not fool himself by trusting in worthless things, because he will keep nothing.
15:32  He will die before his time, like a tree whose top branches have already begun to die.
15:33  He will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen. He will be like an olive tree that loses its buds.
15:34  That is because people without God have nothing. Those who take bribes will have their homes destroyed by fire.
15:35  They are always thinking of ways to do evil and cause trouble. They are always planning how they might cheat others.”