Job 15
New Living Translation
Eliphaz’s Second Response to Job
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 “A wise man wouldn’t answer with such empty talk!
You are nothing but a windbag.
3 The wise don’t engage in empty chatter.
What good are such words?
4 Have you no fear of God,
no reverence for him?
5 Your sins are telling your mouth what to say.
Your words are based on clever deception.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I.
Your own lips testify against you.
7 “Were you the first person ever born?
Were you born before the hills were made?
8 Were you listening at God’s secret council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
9 What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that we do not?
10 On our side are aged, gray-haired men
much older than your father!
11 “Is God’s comfort too little for you?
Is his gentle word not enough?
12 What has taken away your reason?
What has weakened your vision,[a]
13 that you turn against God
and say all these evil things?
14 Can any mortal be pure?
Can anyone born of a woman be just?
15 Look, God does not even trust the angels.[b]
Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight.
16 How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person
with a thirst for wickedness!
17 “If you will listen, I will show you.
I will answer you from my own experience.
18 And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men
who have heard the same thing from their fathers—
19 from those to whom the land was given
long before any foreigners arrived.
20 “The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives.
Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
21 The sound of terror rings in their ears,
and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
22 They dare not go out into the darkness
for fear they will be murdered.
23 They wander around, saying, ‘Where can I find bread?’[c]
They know their day of destruction is near.
24 That dark day terrifies them.
They live in distress and anguish,
like a king preparing for battle.
25 For they shake their fists at God,
defying the Almighty.
26 Holding their strong shields,
they defiantly charge against him.
27 “These wicked people are heavy and prosperous;
their waists bulge with fat.
28 But their cities will be ruined.
They will live in abandoned houses
that are ready to tumble down.
29 Their riches will not last,
and their wealth will not endure.
Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.
30 “They will not escape the darkness.
The burning sun will wither their shoots,
and the breath of God will destroy them.
31 Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches,
for emptiness will be their only reward.
32 They will be cut down in the prime of life;
their branches will never again be green.
33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early,
like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.
34 For the godless are barren.
Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
Their womb produces deceit.”
Job 15
English Standard Version
Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God
15 Then (A)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Should (B)a wise man answer with (C)windy knowledge,
and fill his (D)belly with (E)the east wind?
3 Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which he can do no good?
4 But you are doing away with the fear of God[a]
and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your (F)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
(G)your own lips testify against you.
7 (H)“Are you the first man who was born?
Or (I)were you brought forth (J)before the hills?
8 Have you listened in (K)the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 (L)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 (M)Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
older than your father.
11 Are the comforts of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 that you turn your (N)spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
14 (O)What is man, (P)that he can be pure?
Or he who is (Q)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15 Behold, God[b] (R)puts no trust in his (S)holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16 (T)how much less one who is abominable and (U)corrupt,
a man who (V)drinks injustice like water!
17 “I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
18 (what wise men have told,
without hiding it (W)from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no (X)stranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the (Y)years that are laid up for (Z)the ruthless.
21 (AA)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in (AB)prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
23 He (AC)wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify him;
they (AD)prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
26 (AE)running (AF)stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because he has (AG)covered his face with his fat
and gathered fat upon his waist
28 and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
29 he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;[c]
30 he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by (AH)the breath of his mouth he will depart.
31 Let him not (AI)trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
32 It will be paid in full (AJ)before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
34 For (AK)the company of the godless is barren,
and (AL)fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They (AM)conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their (AN)womb prepares deceit.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
