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