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
New Century Version
Eliphaz Answers Job
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “A wise person would not answer with empty words
or fill his stomach with the hot east wind.
3 He would not argue with useless words
or make speeches that have no value.
4 But you even destroy respect for God
and limit the worship of him.
5 Your sin teaches your mouth what to say;
you use words to trick others.
6 It is your own mouth, not mine, that shows you are wicked;
your own lips testify against you.
7 “You are not the first man ever born;
you are not older than the hills.
8 You did not listen in on God’s secret council.
But you limit wisdom to yourself.
9 You don’t know any more than we know.
You don’t understand any more than we understand.
10 Old people with gray hair are on our side;
they are even older than your father.
11 Is the comfort God gives you not enough for you,
even when words are spoken gently to you?
12 Has your heart carried you away from God?
Why do your eyes flash with anger?
13 Why do you speak out your anger against God?
Why do these words pour out of your mouth?
14 “How can anyone be pure?
How can someone born to a woman be good?
15 God places no trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
16 How much less pure is one who is terrible and rotten
and drinks up evil as if it were water!
17 “Listen to me, and I will tell you about it;
I will tell you what I have seen.
18 These are things wise men have told;
their ancestors told them, and they have hidden nothing.
19 (The land was given to their fathers only,
and no foreigner lived among them.)
20 The wicked suffer pain all their lives;
the cruel suffer during all the years saved up for them.
21 Terrible sounds fill their ears,
and when things seem to be going well, robbers attack them.
22 Evil people give up trying to escape from the darkness;
it has been decided that they will die by the sword.
23 They wander around and will become food for vultures.
They know darkness will soon come.
24 Worry and suffering terrify them;
they overwhelm them, like a king ready to attack,
25 because they shake their fists at God
and try to get their own way against the Almighty.
26 They stubbornly charge at God
with thick, strong shields.
27 “Although the faces of the wicked are thick with fat,
and their bellies are fat with flesh,
28 they will live in towns that are ruined,
in houses where no one lives,
which are crumbling into ruins.
29 The wicked will no longer get rich,
and the riches they have will not last;
the things they own will no longer spread over the land.
30 They will not escape the darkness.
A flame will dry up their branches;
God’s breath will carry the wicked away.
31 The wicked should not fool themselves by trusting what is useless.
If they do, they will get nothing in return.
32 Their branches will dry up before they finish growing
and will never turn green.
33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe,
like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
34 People without God can produce nothing.
Fire will destroy the tents of those who take money to do evil,
35 who plan trouble and give birth to evil,
whose hearts plan ways to trick others.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
