Job 14:15-15:21
English Standard Version
15 You would (A)call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the (B)work of your hands.
16 For then you would (C)number my steps;
you would not keep (D)watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be (E)sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But the mountain falls and (F)crumbles away,
and (G)the rock is removed from its place;
19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
you change his countenance, and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he (H)does not know it;
they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
22 He feels only the pain of his own body,
and he mourns only for himself.”
Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God
15 Then (I)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Should (J)a wise man answer with (K)windy knowledge,
and fill his (L)belly with (M)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 (N)own mouth condemns you, and not I;
(O)your own lips testify against you.
7 (P)“Are you the first man who was born?
Or (Q)were you brought forth (R)before the hills?
8 Have you listened in (S)the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 (T)What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 (U)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 (V)spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
14 (W)What is man, (X)that he can be pure?
Or he who is (Y)born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15 Behold, God[b] (Z)puts no trust in his (AA)holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16 (AB)how much less one who is abominable and (AC)corrupt,
a man who (AD)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 (AE)from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no (AF)stranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the (AG)years that are laid up for (AH)the ruthless.
21 (AI)Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in (AJ)prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
