¹ Then responded Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:

² Should, a wise man, answer unreal knowledge? or fill, with the east wind, his inner man?

³ Disputing with discourse that doth no good, or with speech, wherein is no profit?

⁴ But, thou, wouldst take away reverence, and wouldst attain unto meditation before GOD.

⁵ For thine own mouth would teach thine iniquity, and thou wouldst choose the tongue of the crafty.

⁶ Thine own mouth shall condemn thee, and, not I, And, thine own lips, shall testify against thee.

⁷ The first of mankind, wast thou born? Or, before the hills, wast thou brought forth?

⁸ In the secret council of GOD, hast thou been wont to hearken? Or canst thou attain for thyself unto wisdom?

⁹ What knowest thou, that we know not? [What] understandest thou, and the same, is not with us?

¹⁰ Both hoary and venerable, are among us, one mightier than thy father in days!

¹¹ Too small for thee, are the consolations of GOD? or a word spoken gently with thee?

¹² How doth thine own heart carry thee away, and how thine eyes do roll!

¹³ For thy spirit, replieth against GOD, and thou bringest forth—out of thy mouth—words!

¹⁴ What is a mortal, that he should be pure? or that righteous should be one born of a woman?

¹⁵ Lo! in his holy ones, he putteth not confidence, and, the heavens, are not pure in his eyes:

¹⁶ How much less when one is detested and corrupt, a man who drinketh in—like water—perversity.

¹⁷ I will tell thee—hear me, Since this I have seen, I must needs declare it.

¹⁸ Which, wise men, tell, and deny not [that which is] from their fathers.

¹⁹ To them alone, was the earth given, and no alien passed through their midst:

²⁰ All the days of the lawless man, he, doth writhe with pain, and, the number of years, is hidden from the tyrant;

²¹ A noise of dreadful things, is in his ears, In prosperity, the destroyer cometh upon him;

²² He hath no confidence to come back out of darkness, he, being destined to the power oft the sword;

²³ A wanderer, he, for bread, [saying] Where [is it] ? He knoweth that, prepared by his own hand, is the day of darkness;

²⁴ Distress and anguish shall startle him, It shall overpower him, like a king ready for the onset:

²⁵ Because he had stretched out—against GOD—his hand, and, against the Almighty, had been wont to behave himself proudly;

²⁶ He used to run against him with uplifted neck, with the stout bosses of his bucklers;

²⁷ For he had covered his face with his fatness, and had gathered a superabundance on his loins;

²⁸ And had inhabited demolished cities, houses, wherein men would not dwell, that were destined to become heaps.

²⁹ He shall not be rich, nor shall his substance continue, neither shall their shadow stretch along on the earth;

³⁰ He shall not depart out of darkness, his young branch, shall the flame dry up, and he shall depart, by the breath of his own mouth!

³¹ Let no one trust in him that—by vanity—is deceived, for, vanity, shall be his recompense;

³² Before his day, shall it be accomplished, with, his palm-top, not covered with leaves;

³³ He shall wrong—like a vine—his sour grapes, and shall cast off—as an olive-tree—his blossom.

³⁴ For, the family of the impious, is unfruitful, and, a fire, hath devoured the tents of bribery;

³⁵ Conceiving mischief, and bringing forth iniquity, yea, their inmost soul, prepareth deceit.