| Chapter 15 |
1 |
And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, |
2 |
Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind, |
3 |
Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good? |
4 |
Yea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before łGod. |
5 |
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty. |
6 |
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee. |
7 |
Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills? |
8 |
Hast thou listened in the secret council of +God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself? |
9 |
What knowest thou that we know not? what understandest thou which is not in us? |
10 |
Both the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father. |
11 |
Are the consolations of łGod too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee? |
12 |
Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink? |
13 |
That thou turnest thy spirit against łGod, and lettest words go out of thy mouth? |
14 |
What is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
15 |
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight: |
16 |
How much less the abominable and corrupt, -- man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water! |
17 |
I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare; |
18 |
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden; |
19 |
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. |
20 |
All his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent. |
21 |
The sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him. |
22 |
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is singled out for the sword. |
23 |
He wandereth abroad for bread, -- where may it be? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. |
24 |
Distress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle. |
25 |
For he hath stretched out his hand against łGod, and strengthened himself against the Almighty: |
26 |
He runneth against him, with outstretched neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers; |
27 |
For he hath covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon his flanks. |
28 |
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps. |
29 |
He shall not become rich, neither shall his substance continue, and their possessions shall not extend 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 him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense; |
32 |
It shall be complete before his day, and his branch shall not be green. |
33 |
He shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive. |
34 |
For the family of the ungodly shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery. |
35 |
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit. |