Job 15
Common English Bible
Job’s intelligence questioned
15 Eliphaz answered:
2 Will the wise respond with windy knowledge
and fill their belly with the east wind?
3 Will they argue with a word that has no benefit
and with unprofitable words?
4 You are truly making religion ineffective
and restraining meditation before God.
5 Your mouth multiplies your sins a thousand times;
you opt for a clever tongue.
6 Your mouth condemns you, not I;
your lips argue against you.
7 Were you born the first Adam,
brought forth before the hills?
8 Did you listen in God’s council;
is wisdom limited to you?
9 What do you know that we don’t know;
what do you understand that isn’t among us?
10 Both the graybeard and the aged are with us;
those much older than your father.
11 Are God’s comforts not enough for you,
a word spoken gently with you?
12 Why has your mind seized you,
why have your eyes flashed,
13 so that you return your breath to God
and utter such words from your mouth?
14 What are humans that they might be pure,
and those born of woman that they might be innocent?
15 If he doesn’t trust his holy ones
and the heavens aren’t pure in his eyes,
16 how much less those who are abominable and corrupt,
for they drink sin like water.
The wicked’s downfall
17 Listen to me; I will argue with you;
what I’ve seen, I will declare to you;
18 what the wise have told and have not concealed from their family,
19 to whom alone the earth was given
and no stranger passed in their midst.
20 All the days of the wicked are painful;
the number of years reserved for the hateful;
21 a sound of terror pierces[a] their ears;
when safe, raiders overtake them.
22 They can’t count on turning away from darkness;
they are destined for a sword.
23 They wander about for bread. “Where is it?”
They know that their day of darkness is fixed.
24 Adversity and stress scare them,
master them like a king ready to strike;
25 for they raise a fist against God
and try to overpower the Almighty.
26 They run toward him aggressively,
with a massive and strong shield.
27 They cover their face with grease
and make their loins gross.
28 They lived in ruined cities,
unoccupied houses that turn to rubble.
29 They won’t get rich; their wealth won’t last;
their property won’t extend over the earth.
30 They can’t turn away from darkness;
a flame will dry out their shoots,
and they will be taken away by the wind from his mouth.
31 They shouldn’t trust in what has no worth,
for their reward will be worthless.
32 Before their branch is formed,
before it is green,
33 like the vine, they will drop early grapes
and cast off their blossoms like the olive.
34 The ruthless gang is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribers.
35 They conceive toil and give birth to sorrow;
their belly establishes deceit.
Footnotes
- Job 15:21 Heb lacks pierces.
Job 15
Good News Translation
The Second Dialogue(A)
15 1-2 Empty words, Job! Empty words!
3 No one who is wise would talk the way you do
or defend himself with such meaningless words.
4 If you had your way, no one would fear God;
no one would pray to him.
5 Your wickedness is evident by what you say;
you are trying to hide behind clever words.
6 There is no need for me to condemn you;
you are condemned by every word you speak.
7 Do you think you were the first person born?
Were you there when God made the mountains?
8 Did you overhear the plans God made?
Does human wisdom belong to you alone?
9 There is nothing you know that we don't know.
10 We learned our wisdom from gray-haired people—
those born before your father.
11 God offers you comfort; why still reject it?
We have spoken for him with calm, even words.
12 But you are excited and glare at us in anger.
13 You are angry with God and denounce him.
14 (B)Can any human being be really pure?
Can anyone be right with God?
15 Why, God does not trust even his angels;
even they are not pure in his sight.
16 And we drink evil as if it were water;
yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.
17 Now listen, Job, to what I know.
18 Those who are wise have taught me truths
which they learned from their ancestors,
and they kept no secrets hidden.
19 Their land was free from foreigners;
there was no one to lead them away from God.
20 The wicked who oppress others
will be in torment as long as they live.
21 Voices of terror will scream in their ears,
and robbers attack when they think they are safe.
22 They have no hope of escaping from darkness,
for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill them,
23 and vultures[a] are waiting[b] to eat their corpses.
They know their future is dark;
24 disaster, like a powerful king,
is waiting to attack them.
25 That is the fate of those
who shake their fists at God
and defy the Almighty.
26-27 They are proud and rebellious;
they stubbornly hold up their shields
and rush to fight against God.
28 They are the ones who captured cities
and seized houses whose owners had fled,
but war will destroy those cities and houses.
29 They will not remain rich for long;
nothing they own will last.
Even their shadows[c] will vanish,
30 and they will not escape from darkness.
They will be like trees
whose branches are burned by fire,
whose blossoms[d] are blown away by the wind.
31 If they are foolish enough to trust in evil,
then evil will be their reward.
32 Before their time is up they will wither,[e]
wither like a branch and never be green again.
33 They will be like vines that lose their unripe grapes;
like olive trees that drop their blossoms.
34 There will be no descendants for godless people,
and fire will destroy the homes built by bribery.
35 These are the ones who plan trouble and do evil;
their hearts are always full of deceit.
Footnotes
- Job 15:23 One ancient translation vultures; Hebrew where is he?
- Job 15:23 One ancient translation are waiting; Hebrew he wanders.
- Job 15:29 One ancient translation shadows; Hebrew unclear.
- Job 15:30 One ancient translation blossoms; Hebrew mouth.
- Job 15:32 Some ancient translations wither; Hebrew be filled.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
