15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
15:2 “Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
15:3 Would they 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 have a monopoly on wisdom?
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 are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they 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 mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink 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 the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors
15:19 (to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):
15:20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man 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 realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword.
15:23 He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
15:24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles 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 wither, 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.”