| Chapter 15 |
1 | Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, |
2 | Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? |
3 | Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? |
4 | Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. |
5 | For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. |
6 | Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. |
7 | [Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills? |
8 | Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? |
9 | What knowest thou, that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us? |
10 | With us [are] both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. |
11 | [Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? |
12 | Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, |
13 | That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth? |
14 | What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
15 | Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. |
16 | How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which drinketh iniquity like water? |
17 | I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare; |
18 | Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]: |
19 | Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. |
20 | The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. |
21 | A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. |
22 | He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. |
23 | He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. |
24 | Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. |
25 | For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. |
26 | He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: |
27 | Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks. |
28 | And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. |
29 | He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. |
30 | He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. |
31 | Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. |
32 | It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. |
33 | He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. |
34 | For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. |
35 | They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. |