Job 15
New International Version - Job 15 << | >> 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142 15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: 15:2 'Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind? 15:3 Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? 15:4 But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. 15:5 Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. 15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. 15:7 'Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? 15:8 Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 15:9 What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? 15:10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. 15:11 Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? 15:12 Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 15:13 so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? 15:14 'What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous? 15:15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 15:16 how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water! 15:17 'Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, 15:18 what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers 15:19 (to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them): 15:20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. 15:21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. 15:22 He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword. 15:23 He wanders about-food for vultures ; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. 15:24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, 15:25 because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 15:26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. 15:27 'Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, 15:28 he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. 15:29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. 15:30 He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. 15:31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. 15:32 Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. 15:33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. 15:34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. 15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.'