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Job 15-17
Lexham English Bible
Job 15-17
Lexham English Bible
Eliphaz’s Second Response to Job
15 Then[a] Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 “Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
and should he fill his stomach with the east wind?
3 Should he argue in talk that is not profitable
or in words with which he cannot do good?
4 “What is worse,[b] you yourself[c] are doing away with fear,
and you are lessening meditation before[d] God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your mouth condemns you, and not I;
and your lips testify against you.
7 “Were you born the firstborn of the human race?
And were you brought forth before[e] the hills?
8 Have you listened in God’s confidential discussion?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 Both the gray-haired and the old are among us—
those older than your father.[f]
11 “Are the consolations of God too small for you,
a word spoken gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away?
And why do your eyes flash,
13 that you turn your spirit against God,
and you let such words go out of your mouth?
14 “What is a human being, that he can be clean,
or[g] that one born of a woman can be righteous?
15 Look, he does not trust his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his eyes.
16 How much less[h] he who is abominable and corrupt,[i]
a man drinking wickedness like water.
17 “I will show you, listen to me;
and what I have seen, I will tell[j]—
18 what wise men have told,
and they have not hidden that which is from their ancestors,
19 to whom alone[k] the land was given,
and no stranger passed through their midst.
20 “All of the wicked one’s days he is writhing,
even[l] through the number of years that are laid up for the tyrant.
21 Sounds of terror are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come against him.
22 He cannot trust that he will return[m] from darkness,
and he himself[n] is destined for the sword.
23 “He is wandering for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand.[o]
24 Anguish and distress terrify him;
they[p] overpower him like a king ready for the battle.
25 Because he stretched out his hand against God,
and he was arrogant to Shaddai;
26 he stubbornly[q] runs against him
with his thick-bossed shield.[r]
27 “Because he has covered his face with his fat
and has gathered fat upon his loins,
28 he will dwell[s] in desolate cities,
in houses that they should not inhabit,
which are destined for rubble.
29 He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure,
and their possessions will not stretch across the earth.[t]
30 “He will not escape from darkness;
a flame will dry up his new shoot,
and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.
31 Let him not trust in emptiness—he will be deceiving himself—
for worthlessness will be his recompense.
32 It will be paid in full before his time,[u]
and his branch will not flourish.
33 “He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine,
and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree;
34 for the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and bring forth mischief,
and their womb prepares deceit.”
Job’s Fifth Speech
16 Then[v] Job answered and said,
2 “I have heard many things like these;
all of you are miserable comforters.[w]
3 Is there a limit to windy words?
What provokes you that you answer?
4 I myself[x] also could talk as you,
if you were in my place;[y]
I could join against you with words,
and I could shake at you with my head.
5 I could[z] encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would[aa] ease the pain.
6 If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I cease, how much will leave me?
7 “Surely now he has worn me out;
you[ab] have devastated all my company.
8 Thus[ac] you shriveled me up;[ad]
it became a witness.
And my leanness has risen up against me;
it testifies to my face.
9 His wrath has torn, and he has been hostile toward me;
he gnashed at me with his teeth.
My foe sharpens his eyes against me.
10 They gaped at me with their mouth;
they struck my cheeks with disgrace;
they have massed themselves together against me.
11 God delivers me to an evil one,
and he casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was at ease, then[ae] he broke me in two,
and he seized me by my neck;
then[af] he shattered me
and set me up as a target for him.
13 His archers surround me;
he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breached me breach upon breach;[ag]
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and I have inserted my pride[ah] in the dust.
16 My face is red because of weeping,
and deep shadows are on my eyelids,
17 although[ai] violence is not on my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, you should not cover my blood,
and let there be no place[aj] for my cry for help.
19 So now look, my witness is in the heavens,
and he who vouches for me is in the heights.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 and it argues[ak] for a mortal with God,
and as a human[al] for his friend.
22 Indeed, after a few years[am] have come,
then[an] I will go the way from which I will not return.
Job’s Fifth Speech, Continued
17 “My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;
the graveyard is for me.
2 Surely[ao] mockery is with me,
and my eye rests[ap] on their provocation.
3 Please lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is he who will give security for my hand?[aq]
4 Indeed,[ar] you have closed their mind from understanding;
therefore, you will not let them triumph.
5 He denounces friends for reward,
so[as] his children’s eyes will fail.
6 “And he has made me a proverb for[at] the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.[au]
7 And my eye has grown dim from grief,
and the limbs of my body are all[av] like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent excites himself over the godless.
9 But[aw] the righteous holds on to his way,
and he who has clean hands[ax] increases in strength.
10 But[ay] all of you must return[az]—please come![ba]
But[bb] I shall not find a wise person among you.
11 “My days are past; my plans are broken down—
even the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day,
saying, ‘Light is near to darkness.’[bc]
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
to the maggot, ‘You are my mother or[bd] my sister,’
15 where[be] then is my hope?
And who will see my hope?[bf]
16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?
Or shall we descend together into the dust?”
Footnotes
- Job 15:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 15:4 Literally “Also,” or “Even”
- Job 15:4 Emphatic personal pronoun
- Job 15:4 Literally “to the faces of”
- Job 15:7 Literally “to the faces of”
- Job 15:10 Literally “more aged than your father in days”
- Job 15:14 Or “and”
- Job 15:16 Literally “Also for,” or “Indeed for,” or “Indeed that”
- Job 15:16 Or “he who is corrupt”
- Job 15:17 Literally “and I will tell”
- Job 15:19 Literally “to them to alone them”
- Job 15:20 Hebrew “and”
- Job 15:22 Literally “He cannot trust to return,” or “He is not certain to return,” or “He cannot be sure to return” (compare NJPS)
- Job 15:22 Emphatic personal pronoun
- Job 15:23 Hebrew “at his hand”; the meaning seems to be, “his ruin is certain”
- Job 15:24 Hebrew “it”
- Job 15:26 Literally “with neck”
- Job 15:26 Literally “with the thickness of the boss of his shield”
- Job 15:28 Hebrew “and he will dwell”
- Job 15:29 See HCSB, ESV; or “will not reach to the earth”; perhaps “his possessions will not go to the underworld”
- Job 15:32 Literally “in not his day,” or “without his day”
- Job 16:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 16:2 Literally “comforters of trouble”
- Job 16:4 Emphatic personal pronoun;
- Job 16:4 Literally “there is your soul in place of my soul”
- Job 16:5 Or “would”
- Job 16:5 Or “should”
- Job 16:7 Singular
- Job 16:8 Hebrew “And”
- Job 16:8 Or “you have seized me”
- Job 16:12 Hebrew “and”
- Job 16:12 Hebrew “and”
- Job 16:14 Literally “breach upon the faces of breach”
- Job 16:15 Literally “my horn”
- Job 16:17 Literally “upon,” or “because”
- Job 16:18 Or “do not let it become a place”
- Job 16:21 Or “but may someone argue”
- Job 16:21 Literally “a son of man”
- Job 16:22 Literally “years of number”
- Job 16:22 Hebrew “and”
- Job 17:2 Literally “If not”
- Job 17:2 Literally “spends the night”
- Job 17:3 Or “who will give security for me?”
- Job 17:4 Or “For”
- Job 17:5 Hebrew “and”
- Job 17:6 Hebrew “of”
- Job 17:6 Literally “and spitting to the faces I am”
- Job 17:7 Hebrew “all of them”
- Job 17:9 Hebrew “And”
- Job 17:9 Literally “the clean of hands”
- Job 17:10 Literally “And but”
- Job 17:10 Literally “all of them you must return”
- Job 17:10 Literally “and please come,” or “come on!”
- Job 17:10 Hebrew “And”
- Job 17:12 Literally “near from the faces of darkness”
- Job 17:14 Or “and”
- Job 17:15 Hebrew “and where”
- Job 17:15 Literally “my hope who will see it”
Job 15-17
New International Version
Job 15-17
New International Version
Eliphaz
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite(A) replied:
2 “Would a wise person answer with empty notions
or fill their belly with the hot east wind?(B)
3 Would they argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?(C)
4 But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.(D)
5 Your sin(E) prompts your mouth;(F)
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.(G)
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.(H)
7 “Are you the first man ever born?(I)
Were you brought forth before the hills?(J)
8 Do you listen in on God’s council?(K)
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?(L)
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?(M)
10 The gray-haired and the aged(N) are on our side,
men even older than your father.(O)
11 Are God’s consolations(P) not enough for you,
words(Q) spoken gently to you?(R)
12 Why has your heart(S) carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 so that you vent your rage(T) against God
and pour out such words(U) from your mouth?(V)
14 “What are mortals, that they could be pure,
or those born of woman,(W) that they could be righteous?(X)
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,(Y)
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,(Z)
16 how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,(AA)
who drink up evil(AB) like water!(AC)
17 “Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,(AD)
18 what the wise have declared,
hiding nothing received from their ancestors(AE)
19 (to whom alone the land(AF) was given
when no foreigners moved among them):
20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,(AG)
the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.(AH)
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;(AI)
when all seems well, marauders attack him.(AJ)
22 He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;(AK)
he is marked for the sword.(AL)
23 He wanders about(AM) for food like a vulture;(AN)
he knows the day of darkness(AO) is at hand.(AP)
24 Distress and anguish(AQ) fill him with terror;(AR)
troubles overwhelm him, like a king(AS) poised to attack,
25 because he shakes his fist(AT) at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,(AU)
26 defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.(AV)
27 “Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,(AW)
28 he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,(AX)
houses crumbling to rubble.(AY)
29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,(AZ)
nor will his possessions spread over the land.(BA)
30 He will not escape the darkness;(BB)
a flame(BC) will wither his shoots,(BD)
and the breath of God’s mouth(BE) will carry him away.(BF)
31 Let him not deceive(BG) himself by trusting what is worthless,(BH)
for he will get nothing in return.(BI)
32 Before his time(BJ) he will wither,(BK)
and his branches will not flourish.(BL)
33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,(BM)
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.(BN)
34 For the company of the godless(BO) will be barren,
and fire will consume(BP) the tents of those who love bribes.(BQ)
35 They conceive trouble(BR) and give birth to evil;(BS)
their womb fashions deceit.”
Job
16 Then Job replied:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters,(BT) all of you!(BU)
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?(BV)
What ails you that you keep on arguing?(BW)
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head(BX) at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort(BY) from my lips would bring you relief.(BZ)
6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.(CA)
7 Surely, God, you have worn me out;(CB)
you have devastated my entire household.(CC)
8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness(CD) rises up and testifies against me.(CE)
9 God assails me and tears(CF) me in his anger(CG)
and gnashes his teeth at me;(CH)
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.(CI)
10 People open their mouths(CJ) to jeer at me;(CK)
they strike my cheek(CL) in scorn
and unite together against me.(CM)
11 God has turned me over to the ungodly
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.(CN)
12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.(CO)
He has made me his target;(CP)
13 his archers surround me.(CQ)
Without pity, he pierces(CR) my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
14 Again and again(CS) he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.(CT)
15 “I have sewed sackcloth(CU) over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.(CV)
16 My face is red with weeping,(CW)
dark shadows ring my eyes;(CX)
17 yet my hands have been free of violence(CY)
and my prayer is pure.(CZ)
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood;(DA)
may my cry(DB) never be laid to rest!(DC)
19 Even now my witness(DD) is in heaven;(DE)
my advocate is on high.(DF)
20 My intercessor(DG) is my friend[a](DH)
as my eyes pour out(DI) tears(DJ) to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads(DK) with God
as one pleads for a friend.
22 “Only a few years will pass
before I take the path of no return.(DL)
17 1 My spirit(DM) is broken,
my days are cut short,(DN)
the grave awaits me.(DO)
2 Surely mockers(DP) surround me;(DQ)
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.(DR)
Who else will put up security(DS) for me?(DT)
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;(DU)
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,(DV)
the eyes of their children will fail.(DW)
6 “God has made me a byword(DX) to everyone,(DY)
a man in whose face people spit.(DZ)
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;(EA)
my whole frame is but a shadow.(EB)
8 The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused(EC) against the ungodly.
9 Nevertheless, the righteous(ED) will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands(EE) will grow stronger.(EF)
10 “But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.(EG)
11 My days have passed,(EH) my plans are shattered.
Yet the desires of my heart(EI)
12 turn night into day;(EJ)
in the face of the darkness light is near.(EK)
13 If the only home I hope for is the grave,(EL)
if I spread out my bed(EM) in the realm of darkness,(EN)
14 if I say to corruption,(EO) ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm,(EP) ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope—(EQ)
who can see any hope for me?(ER)
16 Will it go down to the gates of death?(ES)
Will we descend together into the dust?”(ET)
Footnotes
- Job 16:20 Or My friends treat me with scorn
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