¹ Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

² Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?¹

1. vain...: Heb. knowledge of wind

³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches which he can do no good?

⁴ Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.¹²

1. castest...: Heb. makest void
2. prayer: or, speech

⁵ For thy mouth uttereth thy iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.¹

1. uttereth: Heb. teacheth

⁶ Thy own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thy own lips testify against thee.

⁷ Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

⁸ Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?

⁹ What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

¹⁰ With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

¹¹ Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

¹² Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

¹³ That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean? and he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵ Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

¹⁶ How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?

¹⁷ I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

¹⁸ Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it :

¹⁹ To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

²⁰ The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

²¹ A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.¹

1. A dreadful...: Heb. A sound of fears

²² He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.

²³ He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it ? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴ Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

²⁵ For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

²⁶ He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon his thick strong shield:

²⁷ Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh his flanks heavy with fat.

²⁸ And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

²⁹ He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection of it upon the earth.

³⁰ He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

³¹ Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

³² It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.¹

1. accomplished: or, cut off

³³ He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

³⁴ For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

³⁵ They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their heart prepareth deceit.¹

1. vanity: or, iniquity