[1] And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said, [2] Will a wise man make
answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?
[3] Will he make arguments with words in which is no profit, and with
sayings which have no value? [4] Truly, you make the fear of God without
effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your
outcry. [5] For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the
tongue of the false for yourself. [6] It is by your mouth, even yours, that
you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give
witness against you. [7] Were you the first man to come into the world? or
did you come into being before the hills? [8] Were you present at the
secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself? [9] What
knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which
is not in ours? [10] With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years,
much older than your father. [11] Are the comforts of God not enough for
you, and the gentle word which was said to you? [12] Why is your heart
uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up; [13] So that you are turning
your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth? [14]
What is man, that he may be clean? and how may the son of woman be upright?
[15] Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not
clean in his eyes; [16] How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a
man who takes in evil like water! [17] Take note and give ear to my words;
and I will say what I have seen: [18] (The things which wise men have got
from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us; [19] For only to them
was the land given, and no strange people were among them:) [20] The evil
man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the
cruel is small. [21] A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace
destruction will come on him: [22] He has no hope of coming safe out of the
dark, and his fate will be the sword; [23] He is wandering about in search
of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is
ready for him: [24] He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain
overcome him: [25] Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his
heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all, [26] Running against him like
a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for
the fight, [27] Because his face is covered with fat, and his body has
become thick; [28] And he has made his resting-place in the towns which
have been pulled down, in houses where no man had a right to be, whose fate
was to become masses of broken walls. [29] He does not get wealth for
himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are
not bent down to the earth. [30] He does not come out of the dark; his
branches are burned by the flame, and the wind takes away his bud. [31] Let
him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get
deceit as his reward. [32] His branch is cut off before its time, and his
leaf is no longer green. [33] He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to
full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers. [34] For the band of
the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong
decisions for reward are burned with fire. [35] Evil has made them with
child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame
for themselves.
